Weekly Grist Gallery, June 26, 2011

Birds, bees, blooms, and bugs

It is said that one should occasionally stop and smell the roses. So to speak, we are taking that tack. In most cases, howsomever, we recommend that you do not attempt to smell most of these posies since the majority of them are in a wild environment. However innocent your intentions might be to satisfy your olfactory drive, certain residents of these environments may object and let you know their sentiments in a way which may heap inconvenience upon your person. And leave the bees be. Ogle away.

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  You are looking at a fine magnolia tree a couple of houses down the street from us. Notice that the foliage goes all the way to Mother Earth. When most people take a closeup glance, their curiosity goads them to see what's inside the tree. Spooky trepidation then takes over and few ever take a look. The wait is over. In the next picture we look inside this magnolia.
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  If you've always wondered what is going on inside the foliage of a big magnolia tree, now you know. It looks like a mini-mangrove. I am pleased to report that there were no boogermen, beasts, or bad guys inhabiting the space. Fact is, it's benign shade.
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  This a magnolia bloom. The tree is across the street from us. A yard sprinkler apparently knocked the filaments off the inner stem and collected in the lower petal. The bloom is nearly seven inches across. If you see blooms on the tree, it is a happy camper.
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  Same bloom, second verse.
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  These roadside posies are holding forth on Mount Elba Road in Cleveland County, Arkansas.
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  A turtle's eye view of the same group of flowers.
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  Same scene from a rabbit's eye view.
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  Same flowers from a possum's eye view.
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  How most of us humans see the flowers from the cab of a pickup.
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  Crepe myrtles in a shopping center parking lot. (Regency Square in Pine Bluff AR).
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  Consider the lillies of the ditch. They toil not. These lillies are in a well foliated ditch on south Fir Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
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  More of the "lillies of the ditch."
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  Still yet a wider shot of the "lillies of the ditch."
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  This lily is in our front yard. It is a "volunteer" plant, best we can tell.
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  Same lily, second verse.
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  This is the last jasmine of the year on our front yard bush. I call it physco-plant because it is so unpredictable. You never can tell when the poor thing will bloom as opposed to the rest of our meager plant inventory which is completely predictable.
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  Just off South Hazel Street near the entrance to the new Bayou Bartholomew Walking Trail is a small colony of black-eyed susans. Close inspection revealed that the posies are apparently a smorgasbord for bugs.
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  Bugs and blooms
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  Ditto.
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  You guessed it.
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  Back again.
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  Bug and bugaboo.
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  Bugs, bugs, everywhere there's bugs.
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  Bye-bye bugs.
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  My friend Fred Garcia can tell you what this roadside plant is. I can't. But be patient. He looks at these pictures and will let us know.
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  More of the same. Could it be a doily-plant?
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  This is a real-live "wooly-booger."
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  Back to the "doily-plant."
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  Doily in the dark.
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  This male English Sparrow is guarding the entance to the family nest enscounced in signage on the front of the Staples store in Pine Bluff AR.
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  The first sparrow's neighbor.
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  First sparrow a bit closer.
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  Mrs. Sparrow takes a break from the nest. It's hot in there. High nineties in the shade.
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  Same picture, wider view.
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  More of Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow.
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  To be or not to be.
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  Back to M/M Sparrow.
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  This is a trumpet vine. You don't have to be a Mensa member to figure out why. You see many of these plants in the wild. Some folks, I'm told add them to their mix of yard plants.
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  More of the same on a different vine.
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  Ditto.
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  This huge honeycomb hangs from a strong limb in a giant oak tree in the back yard of a residence for sale at 35th and Cherry in Pine Bluff AR. The former resident of the house, now my neighbor tells me the hive dripped honey into a container on their backyard picnic table. How cool can that be? Way.
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  The first view you saw was from across the street. I shot this picture nearly under the hive, which is upwards to three feet in hanging length.
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  Johnson grass in a stiff breeze. Farmers hate it!
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  Please don't eat the daisies.