Plants from Penny's Bend

Penny's Bend is known for several endangered plants like the Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) shown above and  below. This site had maybe 50 plants in bloom, I have visited another site with hundreds of these plants. I'd have to blindfold you to take you there though.

Here is a milkweed vine, I used to know the name but have forgotten it.

Now an unusual sport of the same vine.

Down the road from Penny's Bend was a landscape planting at Treyburn of Magnolia grandifolia and this bloom was around 14 inches in diameter. The fragrance was intense! I wanted to see if my G11 camera was up to the bright white against a dark background, it did fairly well if you ask me.

A few weeks ago we visited old downtown Wilmington and the older Magnolia grandiflorias were in bloom and most the aroma could be taken in a hundred feet away it was really something.

Penny's Bend Nature Preserve

Today Meg and I took a late mid afternoon walk at Penny's Bend Nature Preserve. For those of you that do nor know about Penny's Bend it is this large horseshoe bend in the Eno River and it has some unique plant associations. A very pleasant place to spend some time in Durham, NC.

A male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus on Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa
The link above takes you to my page about this butterfly.

A male Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus on Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa
The link above takes you to my page about this butterfly.

Northern Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix mokeson

We found this on a gravel road on Saturday a little over a mile from our house. No he was not happy to see me, nor was Meg as I took this photo.
Usually we see these venomous snakes on the roads during the summer at night, this guy was out mid day. I have never in 12 years found one here on the property, the neighbor across the street called me about one she found in her yard about a month ago. She caught it a drove it to a wilder place to live.

This is my new carpenter's helper, he's called Snoozy the Possum! This morning he was sleeping next to my carpenter shop. I had a little project I was working on and he was 6-8 foot away the entire time sleepy away while I cut 36 boards using the circular saw, table saw which I drug past him and set up to rip my boards and the electric sander.He did move about 6 inches twice to hide better, but he had to get in his beauty rest and was not concerned about me even when the focusing light hit him when I took this day light lit photo from a foot away.

Other wildlife we have been having here is White-tailed Deer they have ate our peas and my Swiss Chard the last two nights! Meg is beside herself about her peas. We picked a quart of peas today, maybe our last.

Also for over a week we have been getting 4 Mallard ducks on the pond 3 males and one female. They are welcome to eat all the vegetation in the pond they wish!

New to our yard list a Common Sanddragon. I have lost the list but believe the list is close to 50 species of dragonflies and damselflies. We also added Prince Baskettail last month as one was seen cruising the sky over our pond!

This is a Slender Bluet, Enallagma traviatum that we found at Penny's Bend. Took me a long time to get myself to believe it is a Slender Bluet, normally the last segment(10) should not have that blue. This is the first Durham County record in twenty years, it is tiny and hard to find or no one has reported it. Last year I found over 100 of these at the pond next door and a few at our pond too. On Friday I counted 24 at the local pond.

The photo below shows some details the experts might enjoy.

Monarchs on the way, Sea of Sunflowers

Today I went on a local field trip to the Flat River Impoundments just outside of Durham. The day was gorgeous! I expected to see a lot of Monarchs, but instead we saw something like 40 Viceroys the butterfly that mimics the Monarch. Finally we found 3 Monarch caterpillars on milkweed that had only stems and pods left no leaves anywhere.

Tickseed Sunflower (Bidens) everywhere and they are native plants too!!!
We have a handful of them around our pond. Once blooming is past the tickseeds will cling to your clothing with the two hooks on the seeds.

One 5 foot wide plant in the rip rap rocks.

Just one of many fields full of Tickseed Sunflowers. The impoundments are somewhat wet and the sunflowers seem to do very well here. The aroma is nice, though I can't explain it.

Spring Beauty's

Winter has about one day left here in Durham North Carolina, we hope anyway. Still some snow on the ground, but Thursday it'll reach 65 degrees and then into the 70s into Monday.....Yahoo! Here are some wildflower picks I found for you enjoy!Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica This spring wonder should already be out in damp areas nearby here. I'm not sure that we get them in my woods. To find a huge patch of these in the spring is what its all about!
Variegated Milkweed, Asclepias variegata some might call it White Milkweed. We have a huge (what I call huge anyway) patch of them along the road by the mailbox. In fact I know of no where else in NC that there are so many of these plants in one place. I've trekked a lot in NC, most of the wild places anyway.
This is not so local though common in places like Croatan National Forest in coastal NC. It is Dwarf Azalea, Rhododendron atlanticum. Grows to about one foot and the aroma when blooming is wonderful. Once I found a small patch with 6-8 Palamedes Swallowtails on them. Can't wait to get out there in the forest and wander about with my camera, there are lots of wild orchids and endless pitcher plants to wade into.