Killer Maggots

Remember the syrphid fly that was laying eggs the other day? Well, they hatched. And the larvae are just that: larval. I mean ladybug larva are pretty cool looking. Even caterpillars can be cute. But this? This is a soulless, horrible maggot. On the bright side, they suck the juice out of aphids. They’re not […]

Don’t think of a raccoon

Imagine it’s nearly midnight and you hear some kind of banging about outside. There’s something metallic about it. And scratchy. And loud. What the heck is that racket?

The now and future eggplants

Why, yes, that photo is totally posed. I’m easily amused, by such small things as laying purple eggplants next to pink flowering tobacco, so the nightshades can congratulate each other on escaping the evil Late Blight of ’09. And (hastily crossing fingers) the tomatoes are still doing well, thank goodness.

Hover flies

I keep finding more syrphid flies. These last few days, I’m seeing a lot of yet another kind. Some mornings at least half a dozen of them are checking out the sweet alyssum. They hover and zip aside and hover and zip back and hover and come for a landing on the flowers. This is […]

Not a wasp, but not a friend

For a bug, it’s handy being yellow and black. Folk stay away, thinking you’re a bee or a wasp. That’s just what I thought it was, a wasp, but sitting nice and quietly enough to get a picture. But when I uploaded the picture, I saw it was a bug, a long-horned beetle, that is.

Autumn reds

Rose hips. Falling leaves.

The bees’ last summer dance party

Don’t tell the bees that summer is ending. They’re still crowding out the butterflies on the butterfly bush. The butterfly bush is where I first met the carpenter bees, and they’re still scaring me whenever I brush by. Yes, it may be hard to be believe but there are bees that scare me. That rattling […]

The butterfly bush works

I’m beginning to resign myself to not seeing any monarch butterflies this year. It’s strange. I saw several last year (or possibly the same one taunting me), and the year before streams and streams of them in the fall migration. This year, not the merest sight of a monarch. Not that there’s been a shortage […]

Fussy bumbles

The Latin name for my bumblebees is Bombus impatiens, and when they’re foraging on raspberry flowers, they really earn their name.

Vegetable last hurrah?

The squash blossoms haven’t been totally confused. I’ve been watching the usual acorn squash ripening under a pear tree. And I see I should have plucked up the inevitable swallow-wort sprout before I took the picture. That stuff is a plague! But I don’t want to talk about that right now.