Last chapter

Difficult to see, but there is a mantid in the photo, head down, laying a cluster of eggs, which is the white glob.  

This is the finished egg case which is now brown.  I wondered if the elongated shape indicated that we had disturbed her while she was laying eggs.  But I have since noted at least three others which are the same shape.

Here is the more typical egg case.  Many of these will be destroyed when the meadow is mowed in early spring, but we have no shortage of mantids, so I see no need to worry.  Anyone who is so inclined may help themselves to an egg case, take it home, but I would keep it outside, and not in my apartment.

And another last chapter for this year, a swallow nest removed from the box.

This is the fruit of the Korean dogwood, or Cornus kousa.  Someone said these are edible, but I haven't tried them, have you?

Can you see the fruit of the Cornus florida?

Here you can see the fruit of the dogwood and next year's buds.  So this is not a last chapter, but so-long for now.  Which I will also say, as I am going on vacation next week.

Saturday

This Saturday we had a visit from the paper shredding truck, arranged by the FRA.

The paper was gathered up and put into the bin.

The bin attached to the truck and hoisted up.

In less than sixty seconds it was all shredded!

The carriage house is sporting a new look.

And this is the latest look at the Beaumont House.

Garden Tour

Some Foulkeways residents went on a garden tour in Berks county.
The first garden featured ornaments and a wall made by the owners.

They also had a horse in the front yard.

Our next stop was at Still Pond Nursery.

This is a wholesale perennial nursery and the quality of the plants was outstanding.  

After lunch we visited this garden that featured some butterfly host plants.

But I was most impressed with this Allegheny spurge, which makes a much better ground cover than our pachysandra from Japan.

The last garden featured a wonderful flower garden.

And they showed off plates as well as bottles.

It was a magnificent setting of beautiful garden vistas with sweeping areas of lawn in between.

And many intimate floral settings as well.

And this wonderful potting shed!  It was a grand day.

Monarch in September

This song sparrow looked like he had just had a bath.

He probably found a good spot for a bath in the wetland.

Walking through the boltonia meadow.

I spied something on the magnificent aster by the beehives.

It was a September monarch, and I hope not the last one.

The monarch has company.  That's a honey bee and a skipper in the air behind him.

A Beautiful Day!

And today they were painting lines all over our campus.

Have you noticed -- the Bidens is back!

And is it tall.  Towering over the Boltonia, and yet in places peeking through near the ground.

A great day to see butterflies.  Here is a red-spotted purple.

This variegated fritillary was in the meadow.

But right outside my apartment appeared this Milbert's Tortoiseshell.  This is a rare butterfly for the Philadelphia area, and the first one I have seen at Foulkeways.

This is a view of the underwing.  Now I am having doubts about pulling out much of the false nettle, as this is the host plant for the caterpillar.

Katydid

While walking in the tunnel I saw this katydid on the inside of the window.

It took a while to get his photo in color and his reflection.
Listen for him tonight after dark.

The Wetland, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are two river birch at the end of the Wetland, which are doing very well.

This has been a great place for the song sparrow, mallards, frogs, tree swallows and other birds.

The pickerel weed has been beautiful, as well as earlier, the swamp milkweed, the yellow iris, the poppies, the black-eyed Susans and many other flowers.

The purple loosestrife heads the list for the bad.  While it is a beautiful flower, it is very invasive, and if left will completely dominate the wetland in a few years.

This ragweed will add to the autumn sniffles for many people.

This stinging nettle is not welcome for people who might touch it, but there are butterflies which use it as a host plant.  But much better to have the false nettle, which is growing in the meadow.

Now I think this pilewort is ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the bees can be seen on the tips of these fully blooming flowers searching for nectar.

This is horseweed, which I think is an apt name for this flower, although some people think it is magnificent.