Springtime in the Garden: Slideshow

This summer has been a banner season for butterflies and other pollinators.  It was well underway in May, when these photos were taken.  For a 7-minute slideshow complete with sound, click on:

Spring 2014 in the Garden

The song is, "Butterfly's Day Out," from the Applachia Waltz CD featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor - so be sure your speakers are on.

The fritillaries in the video were very skittish, never giving me quite enough time to focus.  When I returned with my camera to the garden in mid-August they were coming to the end of their run and were much more lethargic.  In August there were plenty of zebra longwings, swallowtails, and sulfurs to give my shutter speed a run for its money - that slideshow will be out in the fall.  But while you are watching "Spring" notice the fritillary caterpillar on its favorite host plant, the purple passionflower.  

For future reference, if you want to play this slideshow again, it has a permanent home on our Awards and Projects page, on the right sidebar in SPRING 2014 IN THE GARDEN.

And here are two Resources you might want to investigate:  Roses for Florida and The Name of the Rose.

Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? NO! It's SuperMoon!

Have you noticed the moon recently?  Starting on August 10th you can't miss it if you are outside after dusk (and the sky clears up).  The moon is full and appears especially large for the next few days because it and the earth are closer to each other than at other times in the year.  Scientists call this positioning "perigee".  And when the earth and moon are close together like this they appear larger and brighter:  14% larger and 30% brighter.  Sounds like an ad for a teeth whitener....

But as beautiful as this supermoon is, it can result in a dramatically large range of high and low ocean tides.  Any coastal storm at sea around this time will increase flooding problems.  This certainly will have continuing impact on Hawaii.  After a head-on intercept with Iselle just a few days ago and Julio waiting in the wings, this back-to-back bad news can only be intensified by the moon's position with the earth.  Japan is also in the bull's eye for Typhoon Halong.

Don't confuse the supermoon with the harvest moon.  The date for this year's harvest moon is September 8th; it occurs when the moon is full on the date closest to the fall equinox.  But, you'll have to wait a month to hear about that.  In the meantime, call up a friend and tell them to look up in the sky for the next few nights, and get a double treat.  The Persieds are coming.  And wish that friend a happy belated friendship day! (Say, "A Friend at The Garden Club of Switzerland told me!")