Wildlife June 2010

[daveyp1970]

Kees i'm not that familiar with butterflies from your neck of the woods but i bet they blow the socks of ours,if you get chance, and they stand still long enough to be photographed next spring-summer  i  would love to see some of them.

[Ragged Robin]

Davey, how fantastic to have seen so many types of butterfly by the river and to have captured them so clearly in your photos - seems everyone including your niece and her lovely dog had a great time - I love the river in every season.

[TC]

I was sent these pictures of a bear at the bird feeder.  We moan about squirrels!!  The rope must be made of high tensile steel to support this weight

[Ragged Robin]

OMGoodness, that's just amazing Tom!     I know bears are agile but to go to that extreme for a nut or seed?  No sloth, that bear 

[Stephenb]

OMGoodness, that's just amazing Tom!     I know bears are agile but to go to that extreme for a nut or seed?  No sloth, that bear 

Astonishing! Wh knows, but perhaps the feeder was full of honey...

Did the bear get what it was after?

[TheOnionMan]

Amazing bear sequence!  Where geographically was this photographed?

I'm back again with Monarda punctata (spotted beebalm) with an iridescent blue-black mud dauber wasp feeding on it this time.  As wasps go, they are very large, and fly about in erratic flitting movements.  They love the allium garden, but with their favorite flowers are Clethra (which is not out yet).

[TheOnionMan]

Some pics of Hibiscus syriacus 'Blue Bird' (the true plant), which drives the bumblebees into a frenzy.  They get so completely covered with heavy white pollen, that they can barely fly, often landing on a leaf for a few seconds of aeronautical rest.  The third photo shows a closeup of one such bumble, the flower color looks very wrong in the early morning hazy sunlight, they are a very good blue color in reality.

[johnw]

Good grief Mark, in flower already?  The Hibiscus syriacus don't flower here until mid to late August at best.  Hasving said that the blue hybrangeas have been out for a week or more around town - a good 4 weeks or more ahead of schedule.   Your Bluebird, sometimes sold as Oiseau Bleu here, has a marvellous habit. Have you been at it with the Felcos?

Torrential rain here this morning and we needed it.

johnw

[TheOnionMan]

Good grief Mark, in flower already?  The Hibiscus syriacus don't flower here until mid to late August at best.  Hasving said that the blue hybrangeas have been out for a week or more around town - a good 4 weeks or more ahead of schedule.   Your Bluebird, sometimes sold as Oiseau Bleu here, has a marvellous habit. Have you been at it with the Felcos?

Torrential rain here this morning and we needed it.

johnw

'Bluebird' as it is sold here in the US, is invariably seedling grown, a shame because it means they are miserable rangy inferior plants with terrible chloritic foliage and small bluish misshapen flowers.  I've grown hundreds of Bluebird from seed myself (open-pollinated and in a hybridization program, and all progeny are inferior plants that bear little resemblance to the parent).  Now the nurseries are carrying a trademarked  blue Hibiscus syriacis named Blue Satin (real name is H. syriacus 'Marina'), which by trademark, has to be vegetatively propagated.  It too is inferior to Bluebird, not as hardy and always suffering some winter die-back, smaller flowers, a shorter bloom period, and not as floriferous, although the flowers are deeper blue, it does not compensate for the gorgeous flowers of 'Bluebird', or as known by its old name, Oiseau Bleu.  Hopefully the ones they sell in Canada are propagated from cuttings.

I looked up "Felco" as I suspected it was a cutting tool, sure enough   Yes, I do prune all Hibiscus syriacus shrubs.  Annually I cut the top 3-4' of growth (they grow like weeds), which keeps the shrubs compact and avoids one of the worst shortcomings of H. syriacus, that if left unchecked, the long willowy arching growth on old shrubs will tip over under their own weight and look unsightly.  A yearly hard pruning (late winter or early spring) will make the main leader(s) stocky and strong, encourages a healthy flush of foliage and sub-branching, and they flower up a storm on the vigorous new growth.  I also carefully prune weaker internal branching and crossing branching, to allow more energy to the main branches and leaders, much the way lilacs are pruned for best flowering.

And you're right, just like your Hydrangeas are well ahead based on an early season, I've never had flowering like this until the beginning of August... we're 2-3 weeks ahead of normal this year.

[johnw]

Good to know Mark.  I know people here who think Marina is vastly superior to the Bluebird in the local trade.  So my guess is the Bluebird / Oiseau Bleu here - well at least the majority  - are not the real mccoy.  The flowers on yours are quite fantastic.  Most of the other ones received here from the west coast are terribly mis-labelled.

A friend says her Agapanthus and Anemone x hybrida are getting ready to flower!

The banana slugs are out in full force tonight.

johnw

[Kees Green]

Davey, our butterflies are quite hopeless actually compared to yours, we have nothing like the peacocks, tortiseshells, comma etc.
I will take pics for you of what I find and any other interesting insects for you all.

[mark smyth]

Bear photo real or fake
http://selever.freeshell.org/projects/rand/

[ArnoldT]

Here's a critter munching on some flat leaf parsley.

Eastern Black Swallowtail 

[Maggi Young]

Here's a critter munching on some flat leaf parsley.

Eastern Black Swallowtail 

 Very natty tailoring that chap has!

[SusanS]

I was sent these pictures of a bear at the bird feeder.  We moan about squirrels!!  The rope must be made of high tensile steel to support this weight

That is just so cute, wonderful pictures Tom