June 15, 2025

Yes, it's coming up upon Summer here in Albion, Michigan.  The Water Lilies have now had two flowers bloom.  The little Honeybee in picture 2 seems to be waiting for the flower to open fully before it makes its way into the opening.

This is what a Water Lily looks like in the bud stage.  When I first saw picture 2, I thought there was a TV announcer speaking from the bud.

Everything seems to be developing more slowly than I remember from last year.  And the cast of characters also seems different.  Last year, the pink Water Lilies were blooming about now, but there were several Green Frogs in the water, some actually sitting on top of the Water Lilies.  Let me see if I can't find some of those pictures - Oh, here is a Frog in Lily picture from last year! That Lily also looks different from this year's Lilies.  This year's seem more stripedy.

This year our Green Frogs seem to have left the scene when the noisy American Toad came and trilled its piercing cry.  I'm waiting for them to return.  Meanwhile, the Toads left a zillion tadpoles and THEY are growing fast.  I had been wondering if some of these Tadpoles were actually young Frogs.  I took some to the Whitehouse Nature Center and Misty Brooks said they look like baby Toads.  I have got to ask how she knew!  We will be watching these tads as they develop.

I'm going to jump from here to the front yard for a moment.  For some time, a Peony had a couple of buds that have now grown to be enormous, and yesterday they suddenly started to bloom.  It seemed to take only a few minutes from the time they started to open up to the time they were in full bloom!

From the very large and showy to a very small plant, here is one that turns out to be Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris).  I keep being surprised to find that something I might have overlooked last year turns out to be identifiable (through iNat) this year.  The second little yellow flower is Rough Cinquefoil, Potentilla norvegica.  I'm still not sure what the little "buttercup" of picture 3 is.

Here are some of the creatures I saw this week for the first time (within memory)... This first one seems to be a beetle of some kind.  Number 2 is some kind of Fly, a very stunning one.  And Fly number three is Suillia quinquepunctata (referring to the hard-to-see 5 dots on the wings), a sure sign of Summer.  (I hadn't seen one since last Fall.)

Nobody has bitten yet with an ID for this interesting Fly, which is probably something like Tipula trivittata.  Number two is a Picture-winged Fly.  (I  don't know what the Picture is supposed to be!)  

Here are a few Leafhoppers.  The first one hasn't finished putting out its wings.  

It was a rough world out there, at least for some of the Spiders.  On the shop siding, there were at least one (maybe two different) Wasps who were in the process of killing Spiders.  Nabbing a Spider by the top of its head seems to be a pretty inefficient means of devouring it, but I guess it's a living.  The Spider Wasp was identified as belonging to Genus Dipogon. 

Here are a few more Wasps.  You saw the second one last week in a Raspberry blossom.   Not all Wasps are carnivores!

Well, that seems to be about it.  I do have one burning question: When will my beloved Frogs come home?  Love to all, and much love to your garden too!