Fly Away Home

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home
Your house is on fire and your children are gone
All except one, and that's Little Anne
For she has crept under the warming pan.

Farmers and gardeners love ladybugs. If you have a garden of flower bed, these colorful insects will soon become your favorite.

Why? because they eat almost non-stop, and their favorite menu items are  plant-eating insects, especially aphids. And so they help protect crops and flowerbeds. Ladybugs lay hundreds of eggs in the colonies of aphids and other plant-eating pests. When they hatch, the ladybug larvae immediately begin to feed. By the end of its three-to-six-week life, a ladybug may eat as many as 5,000 aphids.

The name “ladybird” originated in the Middle Ages when the insects were known as the “beetle of Our Lady.”  They were named after The Virgin Mary, who in early religious paintings was often shown wearing a red cloak. The spots of the seven spot ladybird were said to symbolize seven joys and seven sorrows. Common names in other European languages have the same association (the German name Marienkäfer translates to "Marybeetle" or, literally, Mary-chafer). In the US the name was Americanized to "ladybug" In the Norfolk dialect of English, in the UK, a lady bird is known as a bishy bishy barnabee

A common myth is that the number of spots on the insect's back indicates its age.

Their distinctive spots and red, yellow and black colors warn predators.  This phenomenon is called aposematism. It works because predators learn to associate certain prey with a bad taste. Ladybugs can secrete a fluid from joints in their legs which gives them a foul taste. They can also play dead and pull their legs up “turtle-style” then release a small amount of blood from their legs – called reflex bleeding. The bad smell and the apparent look of death usually deters predators from a ladybug snack. After the threat of danger has passed, the ladybug will resume normal activities.

In parts of Northern Europe, tradition holds that a person’s wish is granted if a ladybird lands on them. In North America, children capture a ladybug, make a wish, and then “blow it away” back home to make the wish come true. In central Europe, it is considered good luck. A ladybird crawling across a girl's hand is thought to mean she will get married within the year. Some cultures refer to ladybugs as fortune bugs. In Russia, a popular children's rhyme exists with a call to fly to the sky and bring back bread. In Denmark, a ladybird  or mariehøne (“Mary's hen”), is asked by children to fly to  our lord in heaven and ask for fair weather in the morning'.

While there are male and female ladybugs, it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart. Females are usually larger than males. If you catch them mating, you will see a male ladybug grab hold of the female's elytra (hard wings) and holds on tight.

 

Because of its bold colors, simple shape and non-threatening nature, the ladybug has become the logo for a  wide range of organizations and companies including:

• Symbol of the Dutch Foundation Against Senseless Violence
• Ladybird Books 
• Ladybird children's clothing sold in the UK by the defunct Woolworth's chain store
• Polish supermarket chain Biedronka
• Estonian mobile operator EMT
• Software development firm Axosoft.
• Symbol of the Finnish Swedish People's Party.

The ladybug is the state insect of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee, though only New York has selected a species native to the United States (Coccinella novemnotata); the other states have all adopted an invasive European species (Coccinella septempunctata).

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home  . . .

Veggie QUIZ Answers

OK, now that you had a chance to check out the veggie flowers posted yesterday. Did you figure out what veggies to with each ?  If you did guess, hope you had a bit of fun. And, HERE are the ANSWERS. Just to make it easier, the order here is the same as in the previous post, including the veggie flower.

This is something we have had an abundance of in the garden this season.

CUKES

 

 

 

 

 

Another veggie (still prefer this term to fruit) that we will soon harvest in bucketfuls is this one. This one still has a way to go before turning its wonderful orange color.

Butternut Squash

Did you figure out that this colorful purple and yellow flower is from the ever popular eggplant which ripens to a beautiful dark purple.

Eggplant

This flower produces an ever popular summer veggie that’s so popular with many gardeners.

Tomatoes

These next couple might have been a little harder to guess .  . .

The delicate white flower on the left produces – did you get this one?

Green Pepper

 

 

 And this grouping of white flowers results in . . . Lima Beans

This last one was not a trick question, since the photo looks similar to the first one posted . It’s in the same family. This yellow flower matures to – Yellow Crookneck Squash.  

 

 

 

 

 

Grenville has graciously offered the following PRIZES – pickup ONLY. As you may have read someplace – maybe even on this blog – it’s been a BIG year at the F&P for cukes and zukes and we enjoy sharing.

1st prize = several large cukes & zukes
2nd prize = larger cukes & zukes
3rd prize = largest cukes & zukes

That’s it for the first – maybe even annual (monthly)? – Frog & PenguINN garden quiz – it was fun (at least for me).

Veggie Flower QUIZ

Early this morning (before the heat and humidity set in, again), I explored the Frog & PenguINN vegetable garden to see what was in bloom. Regular followers will know this has been a bountiful season, thanks to Grenville’s gardening talents.  As some blog visitors are also gardeners and photographers, I put together a “quiz” by posting flower photos of what was in the garden, and letting you all “guess” what vegetable (or fruit as they are more correctly called) would be the end result. (YES, I will give “answers” but  not until the next blog post. Grenville said he will give PRIZES.)

I found out that we’ve been growing a lot of fruit in our vegetable garden. Why you may wonder – or maybe you already knew this. Botanically speaking, anything with an  enclosed seed that develops from a flower and grows on top of the soil is considered a fruit. But, many of these so-called fruits are are usually perceived, prepared and eaten as vegetables. Learn something every day!

Here goes -- HOW many can you identify?
The flower displays first, followed by the clue.

CLUE #1 -The fruit from this flower is known scientifically as Cucumis sativus. This plant belongs to the same family as watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin, and other types of squash. It’s usually eaten in the unripe green form and is over 90% water; ripe yellow ones can be bitter. It is a creeping vine that roots in the ground. The large leaves form a canopy over the fruit to hide it.

CLUE #2 - This vegetable is also a fruit with an outer yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp. It can be be roasted, toasted, pureed in a colorful soup, or mashed into soups, casseroles, breads, and muffins. Its taste is sweet and nutty,similar to a pumpkin.  It grows on a vine.

CLUE #3 - This plant is native to India, Pakistan, Nepal. The fruit is botanically classified as a berry, and has many small, soft seeds, which are edible, but bitter as they contain nicotinoid alkaloids. The fruit is fleshy, with a meaty texture and often used as a vegetable in cooking. Different varieties of the plant produce fruit of different size, shape and color, especially purple, green, white and even orange varieties. This plant is a member of the family Solanaceae (also called nightshades) and is closely related to the tomato.

CLUE #4- The fruit of this flower also belongs to the nightshade family. The fruit is eaten raw or as an ingredient in many dishes and sauces, or drinks. While botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes, which has caused some confusion. The fruit is rich in an antioxidant, lycopene (an enzyme said to counteract the damaging effects of oxygen in tissues) and may have beneficial health effects.

CLUE #5 - The color can be green, red, yellow, orange and even white, rainbow (between stages of ripening) and purple, depending on when they are harvested and the specific cultivar. Green are less sweet and slightly more bitter than red, yellow or orange. The taste of ripe ones can vary with growing conditions and post-harvest storage; the sweetest ripen fully on the plant in full sunshine, while fruit harvested green and ripened in storage are less sweet.

CLUE #6 - This plant produces a legume that is flat, oblong and slightly curved, averaging about 3 inches long. Within the pod are the two to four flat kidney-shaped seeds that are generally cream or green in color, although certain varieties feature colors like white, red, purple, brown or black.

CLUE #7 - This flower produces a bulbous shaped vegetable with bumpy, yellow skin and sweet flesh. It is a short-season bearer and is high in fiber and vitamin C. The rich flavor makes it a great filler in a wide range of dishes, alone or as a side dish. When cut open, it has pale yellow flesh and seeds. The  seeds and skin are edible with a sweet, slightly nutty taste. It is a good choice for summer grilling, gratins, and similar dishes. It can also be eaten raw and adds a nice texture to salads when grated.

 HAVE FUN !

ANSWERS will be in the next post with photos of both the flower and the veggie or fruit (whichever you prefer).

More Garden Visitors …

Here are a few more visitors to our yard . Thanks for all the great feedback – all are very much appreciated.

This honeybee has been busy and is covered in pollen.

Caught this little ladybug about to take flight .

Colorful as this black swallowtail caterpillars looks, you don’t want to find a lot of in your herb garden. These voracious eaters will strip all the plant leaves from parsley and dill plants.

This is an immature box elder bug (nymph).  They are mostly seed feeders and dry weather is promoting large populations. A couple of flowers – just because they were colorful and pretty. The pink one is a meadow beauty, which is a wildflower we transplanted.

 

 

 

 

 

Black-eyed Susan before opening and in bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Bee balm without any bees (or Cs or Ds) and a fritillary on coreopsis.

  Eastern yellow swallowtail on a butterfly bush.

 

 

 

 

 

This swallowtail was very determined to get into one of an orange tiger lily in the back flower garden. Hope you are all keeping cool. Here’s how we are doing . . .The caps are from the National Weather Service advisory. 

It’s HOT !

HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 7 PM EDT FRIDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 7 PM EDT FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO CLIMB INTO THE MID TO UPPER 90S FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THESE TEMPERATURES...IN TANDEM WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE MID TO UPPER 60S...WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 105 TO 108 FOR A FEW HOURS FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

Current conditions as of 3:21 PM EDT
Fair  - 93° feels Like:  102 °F

WHEW !

Needless to say we are staying indoors as much as possible. Grenville has been doing garden harvesting and watering early in the day. Anyone who needs any tomatoes, cukes or zukes is welcome to come and pick at the F&P. Grenville will give a course on weeding with hands-on class work too!

Garden Visitors

There’s been  various small and very colorful visitors in the F&P wildflower gardens this summer. Before the weather turned beastly hot, I spent time outdoors and here are some “portraits.”

    

 

        It’s really the small things that are most amazing.