Category Archives: backyard bed

Enjoying a Loss of Control

backyard bed, rambling thoughts, the Lot

Both Memorial Day and Labor Day are usually busy weekends on the Lot. I utilize the 3-day weekend to either get the garden ready for the season or begin to wind things down for the arriving autumn. Today I had a long list of items to begin:

  • divide and move the Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra)
  • move the  ‘Burgundy Bunny’ dwarf fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) since it isn’t receiving enough water
  • move the Himalayan Cinquefoil (Potentilla atrosanguinea), ‘Dazzleberry’ sedum, and ‘Dark Reiter’ geranium (Geranium pratense) since they are no longer receiving enough sun
  • plant the ‘Advance Blue’ bellflower (Campanula cochleariifolia), leadplant (Amorpha canescens) and 2 unknown red sedum that have been sitting in pots for way too long as a gardener decides where they should be placed
  • divide (maybe with a jackhammer?) the Maiden Grass
  • research how-to and hopefully divide the Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum)
  • mulch newly build beds

However, Nature will do as she wishes. She doesn’t really care if a gardener has a to-do list for the weekend. As I was digging, the rumbling in the already overcast sky began. Within the next several minutes the rain started. I ducked into the garage to see if the storm would blow past. It didn’t.

As I stood in the doorway looking out at the backyard, I was able to notice the sights, smells, and sounds of the garden during the soaking rainfall. It was beautiful and so relaxing. I caught a bit of it to share.

Skippers in the Garden

backyard bed, pollinators, the Lot

We’ve been having a great season for spotting critters on the Lot. When I was outside watering today, I caught site of several smaller butterfly or moth-looking insects. They were busy browsing the back garden for something to eat. I took some up-close and personal photos to ID one of the little winged insects.

Butterfly or Skipper?

One of the first things I discovered was this small insect is referred to as a skipper. Skippers belong to the Family Hesperiidae, whose Order is Lepidoptera. Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes both butterflies and moths. Unlike many of its larger more colorful relatives, skippers are smaller, usually wear duller colors, and dart about rather than gracefully wander around the garden. Both their bodies and eyes are on the larger size compared to the wings. A distinct feature of a skipper are the “hook-like projections at the ends of their clubbed antennae.”

Checkered Skipper

Here is a peak at the upper pattern on this one’s wings. I lucked out ID’ing my first skipper because it doesn’t seem many in Michigan have the higher contrast pattern with white and dark brown / black patterning. Most skippers have a combination of browns, goldenrod, orange, and dusty yellows on their wings. Not this one!

Here’s a better look beneath a wing and at the body, head, and eyes.

After flipping through the guide, I’m feeling pretty sure this is a Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis). At first I thought it might be a Grizzled Skipper, but that species only has a single brood with a flight time between the beginning of May to the beginning of June. This is August, which falls well within the flight time of the Checkered Skipper, mid June until the end of October.

Field Guide for Michigan Butterflies

book cover for Michigan Butterflies & SkippersThe field guide I’ve been using this season is Michigan Butterflies & Skippers by Mogens C. Nielsen. You can pick it up at the MSUE store or call your favorite local bookstore.

It doesn’t have photos of all species caterpillars, but it has a great collection of photos displaying upper and lower wings of male and female specimens. The book also includes notes on adult food sources, host plants, habitat, distribution across the state (with map), flight period, and any special remarks for each species.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – March 2018

backyard bed, bloom day, bulbs, front bed, house bed, spring

It is challenging being a gardener in Zone 6 at this time of year. It is especially challenging when you’re a gardener in Zone 6 this time of year and have had the opportunity to befriend gardeners in Zones 7-9. They are awash in spring blooms and you are still eagerly awaiting the first stir of early spring bulbs!

Well the Other Half and I not only saw our first robin this past week or so, but we finally have those ephemeral beauties showing up on the Lot. First to appear this season are the Other Half’s favorite spring bulb, the snowdrop (Galanthus). First the snowdrops by the house foundation popped up.

Those were closely followed by a handful in the backyard bed. Several days afterward, the cheery yellow winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) joined the party.

I really enjoy the splashes of bright color brought to the garden by this little member of the buttercup family. Here is it again in another part of the backyard bed.

And shortly on the aconites’ heels is the crocus. We have purple, yellow, and white with purple stripe variations on the Lot.

In the front south bed the daffodils (Narcissus) are breaking ground…

…and so are the tulips (Tulipa) in the southwest bed!

Not just the bulbs are waking up. Some of the early-to-rise perennials on the Lot are stirring as well, like this lenten rose (Helleborus). Just purchased last season, this is the first time I’ll see the lovely sepals of Sandy Shore, part of the HoneyMoon Series by Walters Gardens, Inc. hybridizer Hans Hansen.

With the annual Smart Gardening conference behind me and the first signs of spring stirring on the Lot, the gardening bug is worse than ever right now! I can’t wait to get out into the garden and officially begin the season.