Flower Rest Area

 

On our way back into Georgia on I-85, we stopped at the Georgia welcome center near West Point, GA. As we drove in, a bright sign highlighted an area with visible wildflowers so I walked over to see it.  According to the sign and this webpage, it was a collaboration in 2016 to produce a pollinator garden to showcase how we could “reimagine our highways in a way that’s more sustainable and healthier for all species.”

There is a good diversity of plants there. Ropes help define the area and the lawn-facing sides are kept in check with mowers, allowing visitors to walk right up to see the pollinators enjoying the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum), wild bergamot (Monarda), and tall goldenrod (Solidago altissimum). Without the maintenance on those edges, those spreading plants would go all the way to the parking lot.

Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum)

Gulf fritillary on butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

It was nice to see the succession of blooms and I look forward to stopping by during the year to see it again and again (with a new granddaughter in the Florida panhandle, we will be making more trips this way). The black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) were almost finished and the butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) was going to seed, but the downy sunflower (Helianthus mollis) was just starting. Also noted was fading Coreopsis, the occasional purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and grasses. The sign at the front also indicates there might be rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) and New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae).

Rudbeckia hirta ready to feed the birds!

I am not sure if there are more of these areas at rest stops but it is a nice way to showcase Georgia flora and fauna (i.e., insects). I felt much more refreshed after taking a few minutes to watch the butterflies, bees, and beetles enjoying the flowers. I’m sure that birds are using the area as well.

Flowers vs Foliage

 

Deer ignoring American germander

The deer have been brutal to my flowers this year in the front yard. I have a few things blooming – a big St. John’s wort (Hypericum densiflorum), threadleaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), American germander (Teucrium canadense), and the white wild indigo (Baptisia alba) are things in the front yard (the back area is fenced and blooms are safe there). Everything else in the front is clipped down to about 12 inches … but perhaps some of it will bloom when they get bored of it.

L-R: American lady, Spicebush swallowtail, Pipevine swallowtail

Yet in the midst of this, the butterflies have managed to find some host plants and lay eggs. I have seen caterpillars on my spicebush (Lindera benzoin), my pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia), my pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa), and my false indigo bush (Amorpha fruticosa). I have a number of other host plants waiting for the adults to show up.

Normally I apply deer spray (Liquid Fence is my chosen brand) but the weather has been rainy or I’ve been out of town. I will step up my efforts again. In the meantime, I am grateful that my garden provides host plant services even when flowers are few.

June 2024 Moment in Nature

Does it smell in here? This week brought some unusual visitors up close and personal. I heard a thud hit the front porch and found this black vulture casually walking about the front lawn.

After a few minutes, I realized that another one was exploring the shaded area next to the house. Both walked around for a while, then flew up to the roof and from there to the tall pine trees behind the house. By the time I walked out to the driveway, they decided there were no tasty treats here and flew away.

It was fun to see another member of the ecosystem up close. I am always very thankful for the service that vultures perform. #momentinnature

Daisy Fleabane - Spring Roadside Staple

Ubiquitous and seemingly long-blooming, the daisy fleabane (Erigeron) species on our roadsides has been a delight to me - and our pollinators - this year. To the casual observer, these month-over-month blooms might appear to be all the same species.

Most of the common species in Georgia are described as species favorable to disturbed areas, so finding a home on roadsides is perfect. This week we have been in Florida with a new grandbaby, and the drive through Georgia, Alabama, and Florida gave me an opportunity to see just how abundant Erigeron can be on the roads; it was mixed with a variety of other flowers like Coreopsis, and naturalized exotic species like verbena and Queen Anne’s lace. The long, airy stems with clusters of tiny white flowers resemble baby’s breath.

Erigeron strigosus perhaps

I examined some of the plants near my daughter’s house and I think they might be Erigeron strigosus, called rough or prairie fleabane. The leaves are smaller and more narrow, so the overall look of the foliage is sparse. It can be an annual or biennial.

The other species that we all might have seen include Erigeron philadelphicus (Philadelphia fleabane), one of the early blooming ones. This short-lived perennial species has leaf bases that conspicuously and strongly clasp the stem. Erigeron annuus, the annual fleabane has more and larger leaves than other species. Unlike Philadelphia fleabane, its leaves do not clasp the stem at the base. The number of ray flowers also varies among the species but they are so tiny and numerous that I think it would be hard to count them.

In resourcing these species, I found a good website that describes these species and provides comparisons among the 3. Start here with Erigeron strigosus and navigate from there.

I’m glad I got to take a closer look at these lovely native flowers. Meanwhile, new grandbaby is small but I look forward to seeing these tiny hands clutching a bouquet of daisy fleabane in a year or two.

The Little Things that Happen

 

When we aren’t looking! Our lives are so clear to us: we eat, we sleep, we get dressed, we work, we have friends, we have families, we mow our lawn, we take out the garbage … yet all around us, the rest of Earth is living lives too.

Flowering Elymus hystrix

I noticed this week that the Eastern bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix) is blooming. It has already formed spikelets that make it look like it has already made seeds but the tiny flowers are just appearing now. Each spikelet has 2 to 4 florets with pale yellow stamens. This cool-season grass is shade tolerant and has proven to be pretty happy in my yard: it is starting to seed around a bit and I’ve been donating and pulling some of the extras.

Seeing these blooms reminded me of so many things we don’t see as the rest of the world goes about its lives around us: tiny bees and flower flies pollinating flowers that are so small themselves we don’t always see them; frogs hiding in the foliage while they wait for an insect to pass through; the caterpillar hiding under the leaves while it eats to live; bird parents gathering thousands of insects to raise and support their small nest of chicks.

I’m sure this post reminds some of you of the #momentinnature posts that I copied from a friend several years ago. The message is similar in that we should notice things, but whether we notice them or not, they are happening. We share our living space with thousands and millions of other organisms. How we treat our outside (gently or harshly, with or without chemicals, what we add and what we remove) affects them too.

Bee going about her business whether we see her or not