Ramble Report June 30, 2022
Leader for today's Ramble: Heather Larkin
Authors of today's report: Heather Larkin, Linda Chafin
Insect identifications: Heather Larkin, Don Hunter
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don Hunter.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6022574794425702&type=3
27 Ramblers today
Announcements:
Linda announced that several folks responded to her request for Ramble co-leaders. Among those responding are Heather Larkin (insect specialist, naturalist, photographer, computer whiz), Bill Sheehan (fungi, galls, and insects expert), Holly Haworth (certified Appalachian naturalist, environmental journalist, UGA Ph.D. student, and more), Catherine Chastain (naturalist, veteran rambler), and Gary Crider (veteran rambler, invasive plant specialist). We are so happy to have this talented group of leaders! We met after today’s ramble and sorted out a leader calendar till the end of 2022, but new leaders are welcomed to step forward at any time!
 |
| Welcome to Heather on her first ramble as an official leader! |
Today's emphasis: Pollinators in the Front Plaza, Museum Pollinator Beds, Herb and Physic Gardens, and Heritage Garden
Reading:
Bob presented his recent poem, “To Be In England”
http://bobambrosejr-poetry.blogspot.com/2022/06/to-be-in-england.html
To Be in England
for Sarah and Alan, Maggie and Willa
May in the South is a mellow affair –
how I fling open windows and breathe in the night,
how scented air soothes my skin,
http://bobambrosejr-poetry.blogspot.com/2022/06/to-be-in-england.html
To Be in England
for Sarah and Alan, Maggie and Willa
May in the South is a mellow affair –
how I fling open windows and breathe in the night,
how scented air soothes my skin,
how my house exhales. I let go my grip
and sleep with whispers that drift on the breeze.
I wake to the calls of cardinals and wrens.
The back deck beckons.
I take my mornings outside
where titmice and phoebes sing through the trees.
I crumple up my do-list,
place my age on pause, and waste
whole days dreaming. A gentle rhythm
settles in as new life quickens.
These are the weeks when springtime matures
and I would not leave them lightly.
But I would fly four thousand miles and more –
To be in England when elderberry blooms,
and dog rose decorates embankments.
The England of greenswards, copses and hedgerows,
of white lace flowering the shoulders of roads
that carry me back to my daughter’s home
to slip on the role of grandpa again.
To bask in a baby’s toothless smile
and feel the strength as she squirms for her mum.
To match wits with a cheeky toddler wielding
a mischievous grin. To watch her tussle
then cuddle with dad. To embed in the bustle,
the banter, the tears, the staccato exuberance
of playgrounds and parks. To be the old ‘grampa’
rolling a buggy down paths by the willows
to a bend in the river where cygnets hatch
and hew to the wake of an elegant swan.
As nights chase days, my weeks slip by –
One morning I rise, home to gardenia
beginning to brown in the blaze of a summer
come too soon where I find myself just
another elder again wandering the aisles
of Kroger foraging for what I forgot.
*******
Show and Tell:
Gary brought several specimens of the Class 1 invasive, Chinese Tallow Tree (AKA Popcorn Plant or Florida Aspen) from the Greenway. Native to tropical and subtropical Asia, it has been designated by The Nature Conservancy as “one of the ten worst alien plant invaders in the U.S.” Its destructive spread has been largely confined to lowland areas along the Gulf coast as far west as Texas and to barriers islands of Georgia and South Carolina. It is dismaying to find it as far inland as Athens; Kathy said it is present in great numbers at Heritage Park in Oconee County. It has undoubtedly spread from nearby planted trees; a quick search for this species on the internet finds that it is still for sale from a number of vendors.
Today's Route: We left the Children’s Garden arbor and headed to the flower beds in the plaza in front of the Visitor Center and around the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum. We then made our way to the Herb and Physic Garden and the Heritage Garden before returning to the Visitor Center’s Garden Room for the social hour.
 |
| Chinese Tallow Tree |
Today's Route: We left the Children’s Garden arbor and headed to the flower beds in the plaza in front of the Visitor Center and around the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum. We then made our way to the Herb and Physic Garden and the Heritage Garden before returning to the Visitor Center’s Garden Room for the social hour.
Mexican Sunflowers are often planted in the beds outside the Visitor Center. It's native to Mexico and Central America, and its flower heads are always busy with pollinators. In addition to the insects photographed below, we have seen butterflies, hummingbirds, and carpenter bees visit their flowers. This tall annual plant has velvety stems and more of less triangular leaves with winged leaf stalks.
%20on%20Mexican%20Sunflower..jpg) | |||
| Virginia Giant Hoverfly visiting the disk flowers in a Mexican Sunflower head Hoverflies
are bee mimics, but you can always tell them apart from bees by the
antennae. Bee antennae come out of the top of their heads, fly antennae
come out of their foreheads right between their big giant eyes. There
seem to be quite a lot of fly "wannabees" and this link will tell you more. |
 |
| Fiery Skipper |
 |
| Common Eastern Bumble Bee |
 | ||
| North American Tarnished Plant Bug |
Red Salvia is a bee magnet -- today we saw both Eastern Carpenter Bees and Western Honey Bees visiting its flowers. Both species were "nectar robbing," a term that describes how larger bees get nectar from smaller tubular flowers like those of Salvia. Smaller bees and butterflies insert their heads into the natural opening at the front of the flower to reach the nectar; in the process, pollen is rubbed onto their heads that is (hopefully) deposited in the next flower they visit. Large bees, like Carpenter Bees, whose heads will not fit into the natural flower opening, have learned to access nectar by chewing a hole in the base of the flower and extracting nectar through that opening. Bypassing the regular pollination route means the "nectar robbers" are not pollinating the plant.
Honeybee tongues are too short to access nectar through the front of the flower and they also lack the mouth parts to chew into the flower, but they have learned to find and use the openings made by Carpenter Bees, demonstrating that bees can learn to access a nectar source that would not otherwise be available to them.
 |
| Eastern Carpenter Bee nectar robbing from a Red Salvia flower |
Honeybee tongues are too short to access nectar through the front of the flower and they also lack the mouth parts to chew into the flower, but they have learned to find and use the openings made by Carpenter Bees, demonstrating that bees can learn to access a nectar source that would not otherwise be available to them.
 |
| Common Eastern Bumble Bee on 'Little Joe' flower heads. |
Georgia is home to three species of Joe-Pye-Weed (Eutrochium spp.) including Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed, a plant of Coastal Plain wetlands; our other two species are largely mountain plants. ‘Little Joe’ is a cultivar of Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed, and is a big hit with gardeners and pollinators. Today we saw Common Eastern Bumble Bees and Large Milkweed Bugs visiting its flower heads.
 |
| Swamp Milkweed flowers |
An abundance of Swamp Milkweed was planted in the new beds behind the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum. Like other milkweeds, this species is a host plant for Monarch butterflies (though we did not see any caterpillars or adults today). It is also visited by Milkweed Bugs (which are true bugs) that feed on milkweeds by piercing the stems, leaves, and fruits and sucking the toxic sap. The toxins are incorporated into their tissues, and their orange and black coloration, being similar to Monarchs, are warning colors that let predators know they taste terrible. The bugs are not usually detrimental to the milkweed plant; efforts to eradicate them may also have a negative impact on Monarchs.
 |
| Milkweed Bug adults with nymphs in several different instar stages |
 |
| Milkweed Bug adult |
Milkweeds have a very special pollination method. They rely on a series of events that is accidental! First the insect has to put its foot INTO a narrow slit in the center of the flower. Then the flower deposits a sac of pollen onto the foot and sticks it there firmly. Then the insect has to get its foot OUT, which is not always easy. In fact, that can sometimes prove impossible and the insect tears its leg off or dies because it can’t get away. For those that DO get away, they bring that sac of pollen with them to the next flower. Then that same foot has to fall into the slit in the plant AGAIN to deposit the pollen in the new plant's flower. Quite a convoluted process that seems to work for these plants, since they’re super prolific! In the photo below, the arrow points to the tiny slit where the insect's leg must go.Good link for further reading about this "series of fortunate events": https://prairieecologist.com/2021/01/26/milkweed-pollination-a-series-of-fortunate-events/ |
 |
| Oleander Aphid infestation on Swamp Milkweed |
 |
| Blackberry Lilies are actually an Iris! |
The Herb and Physic Garden and Heritage Garden were buzzing with bees....and wasps and hornets and a Fiery Skipper or two.
 |
| Common Eastern Bumblebee on Purple Coneflower. Bumblebees are easy to distinguish from Carpenter Bees: Bumbles are smaller, and they have fuzzy butts. Carpenters are larger, and they have shiny, smooth butts. |
 |
| Common Eastern Bumblebee on Clasping Heliotrope |
 |
| European Hornet attacking and capturing a Western Honey Bee. European Hornets don’t collect nectar at all. They prey on other insects, honey bees being a primary target. They will follow honey bees back to the nest and invade, sometimes killing the whole colony. They also attack and eat other insects such as grasshoppers, flies, and yellow jackets. |
 | |
| Fraternal Potter Wasp on Fennel flowers. Potter wasps sting and paralyze caterpillars and cart them off to small mud ‘pots,’ laying eggs on them. The eggs hatch out and the larvae eat the live, paralyzed caterpillars before becoming adult wasps. |
 |
| Tiny Black Swallowtail caterpillars feeding on Fennel stalks. Black Swallowtail caterpillars have a unique defense mechanism. If picked up, they extend yellow appendages from their heads, bend over backwards, and rub these all over the predator. It totally stinks (and will last through several hand washings). If that’s not enough, the caterpillar will barf its last meal all over the predator! Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sA2Y-jNqI4&ab_channel=BugoftheWeek |
 | ||
| Western Honeybee nectaring on Oregano flowers |
 |
| Yellow Bedstraw or Lady's Bedstraw. Yellow Bedstraw was used in the Middle Ages to stuff mattresses because its odor repels fleas. It was also used to curdle milk to make cheese; the Bedstraw genus name "Galium" has the same root word as "galaxy" -- both refer to milk. |
 |
| Spiny Soldier Bug eggs on a leaf of Yellow Bedstraw. These are a type of stink bug. The nymphs hatch out bright red and then turn brown as they progress to adult stages. |
 |
| Common European Greenbottle Fly |
 |
| Asian Long-legged Fly Long-legged flies are predators, eating tiny insects like leaf hoppers, thrips, and mites. |
Mexican Sunflower Tithonia rotundifolia
Virginia Giant Hoverfly Milesia virginiensis
Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens
North American Tarnished Plant Bug Lygus lineolaris
Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus
Red Salvia Salvia coccinea
Eastern Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica
Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed ‘Little Joe’ cultivar Eutrochium dubium
Large Milkweed Bug Oncopeltus fasciatus
Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata
Scarlet Beebalm Monarda didyma
Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea
Oleander aphids Aphis nerii
Lemon Beebalm Monarda citriodora
Clasping Heliotrope Heliotropium amplexicaule
Oregano Origanum vulgare
Brazilian Vervain Verbena brasiliensis
Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera
Silvery Checkerspot Chlosyne nycteis
European Hornet Vespa crabro
Blackberry Lily Iris domestica
Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus
Fennel Foeniculum vulgare
Fraternal Potter Wasp Eumenes fraternus
Eastern Black Swallowtail (caterpillar) Papilio polyxenes
Spiny Soldier Bug (eggs) Podisus maculiventris
Yellow Bedstraw, Ladies' Bedstraw Galium verum
Common European Greenbottle Fly Lucilia sericata
Asian Long-legged Fly Condylostylus sp.
Green Lacewing (larvae) Chrysoperla sp.
Fall Webworm Moth (caterpillar) Hyphantria cunea
