Spring officially began on Wednesday, March 20, two weeks ago today. However, spring at Plan473 has been in bloom for over a month. A month into springy goodness, there are now more vibrant flowers in more vibrant colors. Blue is my most favorite color and blue flowers are hard to come by. This tiny specimum is the size of a nickel and sadly only appears for the day.
Did you know that while there are blue plants/flowers in nature, blue in animals is rare? In fact this common misconception of blue in nature is so wide spread there are gobs of articles/videos trying to educate about true blue.
In nature, the most common pigment are carotenoids in orange, red, and yellow. Of which there are plenty of flowers in bloom. Some are planted like the milkweed (orange), the hibiscus and bottlebrush (red), and the esperanza (yellow). Remaining are free range self propagated with names unknown.
With warmer spring days (finally!) comes the bugs. Insects. Bugs. Insects. They are not one in the same as all bugs are indeed insects but not all insects are bugs. Ask a Biologist, a fabulous web page from the University of Arizona, states the differences lie in their mouth parts. True bugs are classified as having a rigid proboscis unable to be rolled up. However, as science is ever evolving as our knowledge is increased, bug people and taxonomy people are forever changing the representation. Being neither a bug person or a taxonomist, for the sake of this post they are all bugs.
According to the Smithsonian Bug Info there are about 10 quintillion insects alive at any one time. Do you know how many zeros a quintillion has? 19! Plan473 clearly does not have the tiniest fraction of a quintillion insects, but the number of bugs are on the rise everyday.
Like the vast majority of the flowers they inhabit, the bug/insects are unnamed. With exception to a few nasties, the bugs don't bug me. Even the nasties that bug me are only because of what they represent. For example, roaches. Nasty buggers, the lot of them. Wood roaches are these huge over size rolly polly with no wings, no buggy antenna. Yet, they creep me out. Unlike their america cousins, these come out morning, noon, and night. Unlike their cousin counterparts, they tend to stay outside and have never once been seen in the house. Wood roaches are whatever. American roaches, may they die a painful death.
Other insects/bugs are more desirable. Bees. Bees are insects everybody should love, protect, and cherish. Without bees, pollination would cease. Without bees, there would be no fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and in some cases flowers. Without bees there would be no honey. A world without honey is not a world worth living in. Don't believe me, then check out the Honeypedia website. Bumble bees love the hibiscus and the esperanza flowers. Watching a big ol fat bumble bee land and walk into a delicate esperanza flower is fun. The bee weighs so much sometimes the flower drops and the bee falls out. Seriously, bumble bees are the size of bite size carrots!
Then there are the tolerated insects. Bumble bees and honey bee emit warm fuzzy feelings. Yella Jackets and Red Wasps lend to swatting with a shoe feeling. Lend being the key word. To date not a single yella jacket nor red wasp has been killed, intentionally. And they are constantly within killing range as they both love the lush bottlebrush. Love and share the wealth, not love and horde on the flowers within the walk path so as to be bothered every time a human walks by. The Kid is baffled daily at our insistance that he may not kill the wasps. Every insect serves it purpose and yella jackets and red wasps have a purpose too. Live and let live. If they become aggressive, then they will be relocated to the bottom of the next closet shoe.
Insects that are loved by all so much so that there are people who travel from location to location to admire in their native surroundings are butterflies/moths. Butterflies are not moths and moths are not butterflies. Butterfly antenna are club shaped with a bulb end. Moth antennae are feathery or saw edged in shape. The Library of Congress gives detailed differences by wings, anatomy, behavior, and reproduction. Butterfly or moth, they are both beautiful in their own right. Spring is prime season for monarch butterflies and monarch butterflies love native flowers. Monarch butterflies are just one of the dozen butterflies/moths presents at Plan473 this year. Nothing knowing what classification the many other fall into, I can only distinguish by size and color. There has already been a small yellow b/m the size of a quarter, a white moth with black dot an 1-1.5" in length, a butterfly similar in coloring to a monarch but smaller, a white moth the size of a quarter with one black spot on each wing, and swallowtail butterfly with blue tip wings to name a few.
Nuisance insects are those that cause no real damage but can be plaque worthy are ants. Plan473 has tiny black ants, sugar ants, the much hated fire ants, carpenter ants, and ants with and without wings. Tiny black ant are only ever seen on flowers such as the yellow one above. The are the size of sugar ants but jet black. Sugar ants are known to come inside when the weather dries out and will get into everything. None biting, they are a mess to deal with. Fire ants on the other hand are truly the only insect that will be killed without qualms. Not native and completely destructive, these biting b******* will bite without instigation and will continue to bit until you squash their stupid heads. Carpenter ants are harmless for the most part but become a nuisance during hummingbird season as they will raid the feeder and die in a sugar induce coma inside clogging the feeder for the hummers. Ants are a take and leave it situation.
Insects like plants come in an array of colors too. What plants the insects like I guess depends upon the insect and the plant. The above picture of the coral bean flower with its toxic seeds. It is said that hummingbirds love coral bean flowers. Never have seen a hummerbird at the color bean flower nor an insect for that matter. I have seen the chickens eat the entire plant when it is young and tender several times. They have yet to die.
Another plague worthy insect Plan473 has in abundance already are grasshoppers. Currently they are small and dead grass colored but if the past years hold true by summers end they will be bright green and the size of quarters. Worse, they could be the tan-green 2 inch long buggers. Indifferent to grasshoppers as a whole, the large stick sized flying for a quarter mile grasshoppers creep me out a little. The light tan grass colored grasshoppers tend to stick to the grass but have been known to be found this purple green vine along with spiders and little black ants. Insects love this little vine.
Insects are a much needed part of nature. Some come and go without any evidence. Others not so much. Even when not in plague proportions, insects can reek havoc on plants. This native ground cover was fine at first. When the leaves expanded to full width, the insect damage was visible. This insect bugged in and out and was never once seen. Yet another unnamable plant, I can tell you this about it. The flower is the size of a half dollar, smells slightly sweet with a sick bitter undertone, is an insect magnet as bees, ants, and butterflies/moths have been seen upon its leaves, and prefers the understory rather than the full sun. Interesting is the insect only bothered with the leaves. Reminds me of stinkbug marks on tomatoes. Hmm, haven't seen stinkbugs. Gonna have to keep an eye out for them.
Honeybees are just one of the few insects of which there is never enough of in nature. Ladybugs are another. Ladybugs are excellent aphid controllers. Ladybugs are also great pollinators. There are both native and non native species. As with all non native species, they push out the native and are not as beneficial to the nature environment as native species. Real native ladybugs were seen several days on this white wispy flower, new this spring. In fact, this was the only plant on the whole property. Unusual in coloring, it was stark white on a tall stalk with small feather leaves at the bottom. Very pretty and lovely with bright red ladybugs.
The only other white flower is the of the olive tree on the deck. Whereas the pretty white flower above stayed for several days, the olive tree flower is here and done within a day. Still alive and on the plant for days, it is only bright white for one day. Another surprising note about the olive tree it is lack of insects. Does the flower not smell? Does the stamen not produce food? Being native and non toxic, why the lack of insects? It is really bugging me about its lack of bugs.
Spring in South Texas has yet to let me down in coloring plant/flowers/insects/bugs. Even with the cooler weather the show has been spectacular. With April already in full bloom, summer heat is just around the corner. Summer heat with its summer biting bugs. Buggers. So for now, I will continue to enjoy the nice cool wet spring.