Bachelor Button

Finally bloomed! After many massive attacks from the rabbits!!!

Bachelor Button
Centaurea cyanus

Sowing Bachelor Button Seeds

Bachelor buttons are easy to grow from seeds outdoors. Sow in spring, 1 to 2 weeks before the last expected frost, for early summer blooms. They can also be sown in fall in mild climates for early spring blooms.

Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart. The seeds need complete darkness to germinate, so make sure they are well covered. When seedlings are 1 to 2 inches tall, thin them to 6 to 8 inches apart. The first blooms appear 10 to 12 weeks after planting, and last for about a month. Successive plantings can extend the bloom period.

Wharton State Forest

August 13th. The Jeep was packed for an excursion through Wharton State Forest. The destination was Apple Pie Hill, elevation 191 feet, a mountain in the flat coastal plains of Southern New Jersey, otherwise known as the Pine Barrens. Armed with the New Jersey Atlas & Gazetteer, plenty of snacks, 2 cameras, 2 binoculars,

and a shoddy compass, we set off. Apple Pie Hill was never found, but we did find a thriving colony of Southern Leopard Frogs living in a vernal pool. No rattlesnakes were seen or heard. We passed cranberry bogs and lots and lots of pine trees!!! We entered the forest near Batso Village and after many hours finally found a paved road that took us to Chatsworth and the way home.

Click here for more info on the Southern Leopard Frog
Click here for more info on Wharton State Forest

The Garden

The beans are running up the poles! Picked today: pickle cucumbers, tomatoes, apple sweet peppers, long hot peppers, gold runner beans, tomatoes, and tarragon. The birdbath has frequent visitors in the 90-degree weather.

Woman

Art & Nature

Collage 33

My first mosaic. 3 watercolor and ink paintings that I scanned into the computer then collaged, copied and rotated. Fabric or photo?

Gwen and...

 

Mike fleeing from The Greenheads!

Bike trip to Egg Island, NJ
June 30, 2006

Greenhead Fly
The salt marsh greenhead fly, Tabanus nigrovittatus, lives along the New Jersey coastal marshes. They can drive you insane when trying to enjoy the salt marshes. On a recent bike trip to Egg Island, NJ, we were consisently attacked, followed, and bitten.

The female bites during daylight in large numbers; they have a long flight range,and attack persistently. Greenhead fly populations reach peak numbers during July, but extend from late June into September.

Where Greenheads Come From
Greenhead flies are produced in coastal marshes. There can be as many as 70 larvae in a single square yard of marsh sod. Developing larvae concentrate along the upper vegetational zone reached by daily high tides. Foraging through wet thatch, surface muck, and vegetation, the predaceous larvae attack and devour a variety of invertebrates, including some of their own kind. Larvae overwinter and form a pupa after a brief period of spring foraging. The adult emerges from the pupa in late spring.

Adult flies mate on the open marsh. Within a few days and without seeking a blood meal, the female lays her first egg mass, consisting of 100 to 200 eggs. To produce additional egg masses, the female needs a blood meal. Among biting flies, blood serves as a rich protein source necessary for egg development. In the case of the salt marsh greenhead, protein for the first egg mass is obtained when the predaceous larva eats other insect larvae or small animals, but to lay additional egg masses, she must obtain a blood meal.

Older female greenheads move from the salt marsh to nearby wooded or open areas along the marsh edge to seek suitable blood sources. There they await and attack wildlife, livestock, and people that venture close enough for them to detect.

Females live for three to four weeks in the uplands before they become too weak to bite. Because of this long life, large numbers of blood- hungry flies build up in areas near salt marshes, just waiting for passerbys on bicycles!!

Science information from:
The Greenhead and You
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service
Cook College
Elton J. Hansens, Research Professor of Entomology and Economic Zoology
Stuart R. Race, Extension Specialist in Entomology

Click here to see a photo of a Greenhead

Mushroom

Mushroom
Egg Island, NJ
Photo taken July 9, 2006

This mushroom was found near Egg Island, NJ on a bike riding trip. Beautiful day except for the greenhead flies!

Chrysalis

Eastern Black Swallowtail Chrysalis
Photo taken July 4, 2006

The caterpillar abandoned the parsley in search of a suitable place to morph into the amazing butterfly it would become. Discovering this ragged weed it climbed several inches up the stem. Transfixed on the transformation, it wrapped itself up to resemble a crumbled leaf.