Tag Archives: pollinators

A Favorite Roadside Wildflower

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One of my frequent walking routes happens to be up and down the road on which we live here in Upstate New York. We live on a well-traveled, but country road in Albany County.

So, I usually take 4-5 walks on the road every day to stretch my legs. This gives me a chance to watch the changing seasons and the comings and goings of numerous species of plants and animals.

After spending the long months of winter when most things are covered in snow, it is great to see the changing of colors during the spring, summer and fall periods.

One of my favorite plants that I see alongside the road is Black-Eyed Susan.

While the Black-Eyed Susan is considered a hallmark of prairies and meadows the wide-spread plant is a biennial that blooms and completes its life cycle in its second year with a showy floral display and is a native plant to a large region of the Eastern United States.

Exceptionally showy and easy to grow, Black-Eyed Susan has a prolonged floral display that attracts butterflies and other beneficial insects. The late-season seedheads attract finches and other birds. A hardy plant that is very drought tolerant, the Black-Eyed Susan will tolerate heat, drought and a wide range of soil types, but does not like poorly drained wet soils.

What is your favorite wildflower?

Name This Tree

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The tree in these pictures is located in my front yard here in Albany County, New York.

It is a deciduous tree and they typically grow 40–60 ft tall and 20–40 ft wide. A 10-year-old sapling stands about 20 ft tall. They can be recognized by their large, heart-shaped to three-lobed leaves, showy white or yellow flowers in broad panicles. In the autumn they bear 8–20-inch-long fruits that resemble a slender bean pod full of small flat seeds, each with two thin wings to aid in wind dispersal. Because of the leaves, they are sometimes confused with the Tung tree in the southern U.S., or the invasive Paulownia tomentosa from China.

Due to their large leaf size, this tree is a popular habitat for many birds, providing them good shelter from rain and wind. These trees have few limb droppage but drop large dark-brown bean pods during late summer. The wood of this tree is quite soft.

They begin flowering after roughly 3 years and produce seed pods after approximately 5 years.

There are two North American species and have been widely planted outside their natural ranges as ornamental trees for their showy flowers and attractive shape, or growing habit. Northern and southern varieties are very similar in appearance, but the northern species has slightly larger leaves, flowers, and bean pods. Flowering starts after 275 growing degree days.

The tree is the sole source of food for an interesting and important moth, as the leaves are eaten by the caterpillars. When caterpillars are numerous, infested trees may be completely defoliated. Defoliated trees produce new leaves readily, but with multiple generations occurring, new foliage may be consumed by subsequent broods. Severe defoliation over several consecutive years can cause the death of trees. Because the caterpillars are an excellent live bait for fishing, some dedicated anglers’ plant mini-orchards of this tree for their own private source of fish bait, particularly in the southern states.

Can you name this tree species? Do you have one or more near where you live?

 

Nature Connections

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A friend of mine mentioned a video production that is focused on Monarch Butterflies and their migration. He is fascinated with the Monarch and the fact that the species is in a population decline.

The film he wants me to see is produced by Louie Schwartzberg, and I have yet to see it. However, in doing some web surfing for information about Schwartzberg, I found that he had given a Ted talk, that I think is just great.

The message is aimed at reminding everyone that we should all slow down, look around and really absorb the various gifts that we are given every day. We all get so wrapped up in the latest political news, the state of the economy, and all our “personal problems” that we simply don’t take the time to look beyond all of this “things” and really appreciate the wonder of nature and the world all around us.

Take just a moment and watch and listen to this presentation: