Thursday, September 1, 2022

Ramble Report September 1, 2022

 

Ramble Report: September 1, 2022

Leader for today's Ramble: Jim Moneyhun, Flower Garden Curator

Authors of today’s Ramble report: Linda and Don (please send comments and corrections to Linda: Lchafin@uga.edu)

Insect identifications: Don Hunter, Heather Larkin

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.

Number of Ramblers today: 29

Today's emphasis: Jim, one of two curators of the Flower Garden, took us on a walk through his domain, concentrating on flowers and plants that attract and support pollinators.

29 Ramblers today

Today’s Reading: Jim read from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1790 book The Metamorphosis of Plants: “Anyone who observes, even a little, the growth of plants, will easily discover that certain of their external parts sometimes undergo a change and assume, either entirely, or in greater or lesser degree, the form of the parts adjacent to them. So, the simple flower, for example, often changes to a double flower if the petals develop at the place of stamens and anthers.” 

Jim Moneyhun, Flower Garden Curator

Show-and-Tell:  Jim brought Dahlia and Zinnia flower heads, with examples of singles and doubles of each flower head. Both Dahlias and Zinnias are in the Aster family which is characterized by flower heads with two types of flowers. In the center of each head, there is a disk (or sometimes a raised cone) of many tiny, tightly packed fertile flowers that produce nectar. Being fertile, they have stamens and pistils and, if pollinated, will produce seeds. The disk is surrounded by one or more whorls of large, colorful sterile flowers whose purpose is attracting pollinators–they have no stamens or pistils and produce neither nectar or seeds. (There are, of course, some exceptions to this to be discussed on later rambles this fall.) Through breeding techniques, horticulturists have developed Aster family plants that produce heads composed mostly of the showy ray flowers with few or no disk flowers (marigolds are another good example). Since there is little or no nectar on offer, pollinators quickly learn to bypass these flower heads as they search for nectar. And since these sterile flowers produce no seeds, they provide nothing for seed-eating birds or small mammals. A flower bed composed only of doubled flower heads will not see many bees or butterflies in the summer or finches in the fall.

 

Top, a Zinnia flower head with two whorls of sterile ray flowers (white-and-red-striped) surrounding a disk with many yellow fertile flowers that produce nectar and, if pollinated, seeds. Bottom, a "doubled" Zinnia flower head where the fertile disk flowers have been replaced by sterile ray flowers, which produce neither nectar or seeds.


Dahlia flower head with a single whorl of ray flowers
and many yellow disk flowers.

Dahlia flower head with many whorls of ray flowers and no disk flowers.

 A similar thing happens with flowers in other plant families. There is a Bloodroot cultivar named ‘Multiplex’ where all the stamens and pistils have been converted to petals, creating a showy flower that looks more like a Peony than a Bloodroot. With no reproductive parts, these flowers are incapable of sexually reproducing and are increased only by manual division or other forms of cloning. Doubling occurs naturally in many plant families and was written about as long ago as 286 BC. It is also used by modern horticulturalists to create showier flower clusters. However it occurs, doubling happens at the expense of reducing the numbers of and availability of the pollen-, seed-, and nectar-producing structures in the flower or flower head. 

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex'
Photo by Brunk-Tan, Wikimedia Commons



Monarch nectaring on the disk flowers of a Mexican Sunflower. The orange ray flowers attracted the insect and also provide a platform as it feeds.

The main thrust of Jim’s presentation was to say that the Garden has examples of single flowers, as well as doubles of many species, scattered throughout the Garden. The doubles are primarily for show but he and other curators recognize the need for a balance between the single and double varieties, and make sure the more pollinator-friendly single flowers are well represented. 

Jim also mentioned that the Japanese recognize 24 seasons in a solar year, further broken down into 72 micro-seasons that are based on subtle but observable changes in nature, such as ‘Spring Winds Thaw the Ice’ and ‘The Maple and the Ivy Turn Yellow.’  The Japanese micro-season for where we are now is described as “the heat starts to die down.”  Perfect!

Today's Route:  We left the Children’s Garden, heading towards the Visitor Center, passing between the Ceramics Museum and the Visitor Center, and through the corner of the Heritage Garden, before dropping down into the Flower Garden.  We eventually reached the lower sections of the Flower Garden and made our way along all of the paths before heading back up into the Heritage Garden, past the Pawpaw patch and on into the Physic Garden and Herb Garden.

OBSERVATIONS

IT'S SPIDER SEASON! 

Spiny-backed Orb Weaver in its web


Joro Spider in its seemingly chaotic and multi-layered web.
Hopes that Joros had diminished in number this year have been dashed.

Yellow Garden Spider in its dewdrop-bejeweled web.


Heather's keen eyes spotted this very well camouflaged Citrid Flatid Planthopper on a branch overhanging the sidewalk from the parking lot to the Visitor Center.

The Pecan tree in the Heritage Garden is swarming with caterpillars
whose frass litters the sidewalk beneath


As Jim led us through the Flower Garden, he pointed out a number of cultivars that have been selected for color or extra petals or ray flowers but that have retained their attraction for insect pollinators.

Zahara® Starlight Rose Zinnias are a horticultural selection focused
on the color of the ray flowers that has left the fertile disk flowers intact.


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on a flower head
of
Zahara® Starlight Rose Zinnias

Pink Celosia is a favorite of several wasp species, including Thread-waisted Wasps. There are two types of ornamental Celosia, "rooster-comb" with large triangular inflorescences and "wheat" with spiked inflorescences. Native to Africa, Celosia is a genus in the Amaranth family, along with lots of edible plants such as spinach, beet, quinoa, and lamb's quarters. Some species of Celosia are cultivated in the tropics for their tasty greens and edible seeds.

Great Black Digger Wasp visiting Pink Celosia flowers in this "wheat" type inflorescence. The flowers bloom from the bottom of the spike up, with the unopened buds being the most colorful and newly opened flowers providing nectar. The spikes elongate as the season progresses, remaining erect and a silvery-pink well into the fall. Each flower consists of a colorful calyx, five stamens, a pistil, and several nectaries that ring the base of the pistil; there are no petals.

Rattlesnake Master flower heads are another wasp favorite. Most plants in our area with spherical flower heads are in the Aster family, but Rattlesnake Master is in the Carrot Family, along with Queen Anne's Lace, Poison Hemlock, and Meadow-parsnip, species that have the familiar dome-shaped flower heads more typical of this family.

Eastern Carpenter Bee nectar-robbing through the calyx of a Russian Sage flower. With a head far too large to access nectar through the front of the flower, Carpenter Bees pierce the base of the calyx and corolla to reach the nectaries.

Holy Basil is in the same genus as the familiar culinary Basil
but is widely used for religious and medicinal purposes in India.

Holy Basil flowers with their prominent, pollen-laden anthers
and open throats are welcoming to bees.
(Photo by Pranav, Flickr)


Wildflowers in the genus Gaura are aptly named Bee-blossom. Bee-blossom is a nectar-rich perennial native to the southern U.S. that thrives in full sun, heat, and humidity. The genus was recently merged with Oenothera, the evening-primroses, along with several other genera, creating a large and unwieldy group that will likely be split again soon.

Honey-bee visiting a Bee-blossom flower

Cosmos, a native of Mexico, is a genus in the Aster family with about 26 species. Numerous hybrids and cultivars have been bred for a wide range of flower colors and plant sizes. Most have retained their pollinator appeal and ability to reproduce by seed. The genus name is also used as the common name and trade name.

 

Abelia is an old-fashioned Southern landscape plant that provides nectar for bees and butterflies throughout summer and fall. The genus Abelia is native to east Asia and Mexico. There are numerous cultivars offering different leaf and flower colors, stem heights, and fall leaf colors. None are known to have spread from cultivation and become invasive. Here's a link to in-depth information on this genus and its landscape uses.
 

Pink Agastache is pollinated by long-tongued insects and hummingbirds. In case you were wondering, that name is pronounced: "Ah-GAS-tuh-key"


Blue Mealy Sage


 Angelonia, a genus of about 30 species and many cultivars, is related to snapdragons. They are native to Brazil. A Common Buckeye caterpillar is exploring its flowers, though whether they use this species as a host plant is not known.


Honeybee nectaring on Garlic Chives flower

Ligated Furrow Bee gathering pollen from the disk flowers
of a Zinna flower head. Photo by Heather Larkin

Cloudless Sulphur butterfly nectaring on the disk flowers
of a Mexican Sunflower

Horace's Duskywing nectaring on Lantana flowers
Photo by Heather Larkin

Eastern Carpenter Bee, nectar robbing on Anise-scented Sage

Warmer winters and hardy cultivars have made it possible to grow bananas in Athens. This cultivar will come back year after year.

Banana flowers consist of modified leaves (reddish-purple) that enclose elongated yellow ovaries (future bananas) topped with small sepals, petals, stamens, and styles.

A "hand" of developing bananas (bottom) and some newly opened flowers (top).
For a very in-depth look at banana flowers and fruits, here's a great
webpage.


Ginger Lily is not a true lily, but it is a true ginger it's in the ginger family,  Zingiberaceae, native to Asia. There are about 75 species in this genus, with many cultivars. Flower color ranges from white (Butterfly Lily, Hedychium coronarium), to yellow, pink, and orange. Almost all species are incredibly fragrant. In their native habitats, they are pollinated by insects, nocturnal moths, and birds.


Saddleback caterpillars are well known to many ramblers, who shared their stories of bumping up against the painfully stinging hairs found on knobs all over their bodies. This caterpillar will soon spin a tough, spherical cocoon surrounded by silk webbing in which a pupa will overwinter. Come spring, the Saddleback Caterpillar Moth emerges, mates, and lays up to 50 eggs at a time on leaves of various shrubs and trees. The hairs contain a venom that may induce migraines, asthma, anaphylactic shock, and hemorrhaging. The stinging hairs should be removed as soon as possible to prevent the venom from spreading.

Saddleback Caterpillar Moth
Photo by Gary Maness, Moths of North Carolina

Tiger Lily flowers look a lot like our native Turk's-cap Lily, but this species is from Asia. Unlike our native lily species, they reproduce vegetatively by producing bulbils in the leaf axils. The plants that derive from the bulbils are clones of the parent plant. Tiger Lilies also reproduce sexually from seed.


Forktail damselfly
Photo by Heather Larkin

Redbud Leaf-folder caterpillar surrounded by pellets of frass
Photo by Heather Larkin


Last summer, Flower Garden curators and volunteers enjoyed a watermelon break that included a seed-spitting contest. This year they were rewarded with a small crop of watermelons.

 

Citrus Flatid Planthopper     Metcalfa pruinose

Mexican Sunflower     Tithonia rotundifolia

Monarch butterfly    Danaus plexippus

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail     Papilio glaucus

Rattlesnake Master     Eryngium yuccifolium

Pecan     Carya illinoensis

Zahara® Starlight Rose Zinnia     Zinnia sp.

Russian Sage     Perovskia atriplicifolia

Eastern Carpenter Bee     Xylocopa virginica

Purple Basil    Ocimum basilicum

Pink 'Wheat' Celosia, Celosia spicata

Holy Basil     Ocimum tenuiflorum

Cleome/Cat’s Whiskers     Cleome gynandra

Zinnias, not specified     Zinnia sp.

Cosmos     Cosmos sp.

Gaura     Gaura sp.

Western Honey Bee    Apis mellifera

Abelia     Abelia x grandiflora ‘Kaleidoscope’

Butterfly Weed milkweed     Asclepias tuberosa

Oleander aphids     Aphis nerii

Midges     Family Chironomidae

Yellow Garden Spider     Agriope aurantia

Banana plant     Musa sp.

Golden Alexander     Zizia aurea

Smooth Sumac     Rhus glabra

Saddleback caterpillar     Acharia stimulea

Ginger Lily     Hedychium sp.

Tiger Lily     Lilium lancifolium syn. Lilium tigrinum

Watermelon   Citrullus lanatus

Angelonia     Angelonia augustifolia

Agastache     Agastache rupestris

Blue Mealy Sage     Salvia farinacea

Common Buckeye caterpillar     Junonia coenia

Job’s Tears    Coix lacryma-jobi

Buckwheat ‘Takane Ruby’     Fagopyrum esculentum

Blackberry Lily     Iris domestica

American Sycamore     Platanus occidentalis

Garlic Chives     Allium tuberosum

Peacock Gladiolus     Gladiolus murielae

Anise-scented Sage       Salvia guaranitica