A Quick Note

I'm up to five butterfly species in my garden in the past month. Most obviously they like the native Butterfly weed but also various other plants. Echinacea appears to be another favorite. Now if I can get more photos.

So far the Japanese Beetle Trap is working fabulously. A few remain on the foliage but by and large I have trapped the bulk of my yard's population with about 100-125 currently in the trap. Yeah!

Luce and Chippewa Counties, Michigan,June-July 2009

Just wanted to post some photos from my recent trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These photos were taken along Lake Superior at Jinny Palms preserve and Vermillion Light Station in Chippewa County as well areas in Luce County along the "Big Lake", the Two Hearted River and Pike Lake.

Grand Sable Dunes, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Lake Superiors Artistry in the sand...

Mouth of the Two Hearted River on a gray dreary day...

Tall Buttercup growing along the Two Hearted River Bank

Jinny Palms Preserve plant life......

Common Wood Sorrel and Wild Lily-of-the-valley

Blue Flag Iris at Vermillion Light Station

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird finds a fitting perch on the Great Blue Heron weather vane

Japanese Beetles

Well this year appears to be the year of the Japanese Beetle for me. After coming home from vacation following July 4, the garden was flourishing with lush vegetation.





Now in the span of one week my beautiful edamame soybean plants are decimated with holes all over the leaves. They are verging on a skeletal appearance, all because of those darn beetles. So tonight, I hung a trap with reservations about potentially attracting more of these Asian nuisances to the yard. However, I can't really imagine how my one little yard can support many more of these buggers. I also took great pleasure in manually removing 16 beetles from the soybean crop and givin em the old swirly in my toilet.

Insects busily enjoying the fruits of my labor

Lots of bug happenings in the garden in the past week. This year I'm trying to do a better job photo documenting some of the insects visiting my plants. Here is a collection from the past few days two days....

Scudderia sp. katydid nymph out for an early eve frolic among the day lilies.
















Halictadae Bees have been busy gathering pollen.


This Spring Azure butterfly was busily probing the Rudebekia.












I found this weevil orgy tucked away in my hollyhocks.
















Evil Japanese Beetles are starting to decimate the leaves of several fruit and vegetable crops. I'm going to try a trap although I've now read it may actually attract more of the beetles. Arghhhh!












And finally a few other wasp/bee species yet to be grossly identified.