Last week, we discussed the Water Lily plant that has again started putting up flowers.  Here is a picture from last week showing a lovely flower and a bud that might have preceded it.

After a while, I began to notice that not all the buds for flowers from this plant looked like the one above.  In fact, here is a later flower and the bud that preceded it.

This question planted itself in my head:  I planted only ONE Water Lily in the Pond a couple or three years ago.  Each year it produces a very few flowers.  This year I was forced to wonder if there is something in the genetic makeup of that one plant that can change or adapt to new information from nature so that it produces several (many) kinds of new flowers, each with its own style of bud.  My friend Misty Brooks, head of the Whitehouse Nature Center in Albion, says YES.  By the way, if you are in  Albion and looking for something to do with your friends or kids, drop in on the WNC.  There always seems to be someone there who knows a lot and is willing to share it.  They have been sweet about hosting some of my little Toad tadpoles, who are just food for fishes in the Pond.  They also have wonderful Snakes and at least one Axolotl!  Well, since the answer was YES, I will have to do some more exploring about that phenomenon!  Picture 1 here shows at the top left a bud that will form itself into the large kind of flower, and at the lower right a smaller flower type.  Picture 2 shows two kinds of buds, one about to open into one of the larger flowers, the lower one about to open into a smaller flower.

Thinking about this question of what is going on in the world of Water Lily development has become an all-encompassing kind of thinking.  I hope that anyone here who has more information for me will kindly share it!  Meanwhile, I had another big surprise this past week.  One morning, I found on a plant that had grown up in a window box (outside) a huge number of yellow Aphids.  Now Aphids are not one of my specialties, but I sent in this picture to iNat.   The Aphids are in all sorts of sizes, hence stages of development.  They also were quite lively, seeming to be dancing and swaying on their plant.  An Aphid specialist from iNaturalist.org, @mnhernandez, decided that they are Oleander Aphids, Aphis nerii.  Now Oleander is not one of our native plants, but Misty told me that the same Aphids that love Oleander also go for many plants in the Dogbane (a kind of Milkweed) family.

The lower picture in what follows is the Dogbane member that was such a good host for these Aphids .  It was identified by @ken_potter of iNat.  Thanks again Ken.  I still have to find out what Dogbane it is!  Actually, Ken gave me two possible kinds of Dogbane - Hemp Dogbane and Swamp Milkweed.  I am just learning about these common plants!

Here are some more Aphid pictures.  The first is an enlargement of the one above.  The second one shows what seem to be Black Aphids.  I'm not sure what they are yet!

Here are a couple of lovely little Flies.  The first is a Quadrate Snipe Fly (Chrysopilus quadratus).   The next is one of the Hover Flies, the Eastern Calligrapher  (Toxomerus geminatus).  

Here is a Bug I didn't even recognize at first.  It's actually our old friend, Zelus luridus, the Pale Green Assassin Bug!  It seems to be aiming at something (picture 2)!  The last one is in Genus Arhyssus,  and is a member of the Scentless Plant Bugs, Family Rhopalidae.

If you liked those Bugs, here are are a few more strangers for you to love at first sight.  

A few more Bugs, Leafhoppers in fact. First is the  Red-banded Leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea.  Next is an all-green one, a so-called Typical Leafhopper (I'm waiting for its more informative name!).

Just in case you missed the Japanese Beetle from last week, here it is again.  They love to gnaw on your more precious garden friends.  But the annoyance they bring may be offset by the Lightning Beetle, commonly called a Lightning Bug but not a bug.  If you can find a bunch of these little things twinkling about dusk, you may be able to forget other things about your life.  On the other hand, (just a reminder) if you see one of these gorgeous red Beetles in your Lilies, get rid of it pronto, as it will eat every piece of your beloved Lily. 

Here are some Spiders.  First is an Ant-eating Spider, genus Euryopis.  Next is an American Green Crab Spider (Misumessus oblongus).   Third is a Cross Orbweaver (Araneus diadematus).  

Here is a probable Tuberculated Spider,  and a still-unknown one.  Oh!  I have one more picture for this week's offerings. This is of course the Deptford Pink, which is still blooming out front, even though the construction is still ongoing.  I even moved one little fellow to the back yard!

I think we have now seen all my most interesting pictures of the week.  Please be kind to your own environment, and I'll see you next week!  Love, Martha