“Along the river’s summer walk,
The withered tufts of asters nod;
And trembles on its arid stalk
the hoar plum of the golden-rod.”
– John Greenleaf Whittier
July marks the midway point of the year, when the natural world really gets going and the excitement never ends. It is the time of gathering dewberries and the flights of swallowtail butterflies. Insects get more interesting, plants are flowering with a vengeance and rainbows and sun halos bring added interest to the skies. There is still enough warm weather yet to come, and everything just seems more enjoyable when happened upon in the garden or in the wild.
This year so far has been for the birds. There are Carolina wrens nesting in my propane tank cover, a wood duck and her young at a pond where I work that is in a very busy area, and the gardener at work discovered a hummingbird nest, which can be hard to spot as the outside is covered with lichens and often blends in with the branch it is on.
Native Nymphaea odorata water lilies are fragrant and white. Walking around a friend’s property where there is a large pond, the surface of the water was covered with the first pink water lilies I ever saw in a natural setting. They may have been put in years before when ornamental N. odorata varieties that were hardy became available.
Swallowtail butterflies are suddenly in profusion and their caterpillars are always a good find. Knowing the host plants is the key. Check out small cherries and tulip trees for tiger swallowtail cats that sit right on top of a leaf.
Crawling across the lawn one evening was a pretty large beetle with mandibles to be feared by lesser creatures. It was a male yellow-thighed stag beetle Lucanus capreolus. Males use their oversized mandibles to fight with rivals in order to mate with a nearby female. These beetles make a loud buzzing sound in flight and are attracted to lights.
Hiking in Ayers Gap woods there was a string of silk across the trail. Hanging on it was a Micrathena gracilis spined orb weaver spider. Also known as the castleback orb weaver because of the unusually large abdomen with spines sticking out like turrets, females rebuild only the center of their web daily, not the whole web like most other orb weavers.
Some wildflowers that bloom now in wetland areas are monkey flower, boneset and Joe-pye weed. These attract many species of butterflies and pollinators and are often found together along stream and pond edges and swamp borders. The fragrant flowers of Clethra alnifolia, a wetland shrub, make this a plant that can be smelled long before you see it.
Here’s to enjoying the rest of summer, keeping cool, and finding nice little surprises as move too quickly toward the colder fall and winter landscape of New England. Like this piglet from Organic Roots farm, find a way to stay cool on those hot days.
Pamm Cooper
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