Martha's Backyard Blog - May 18, 2025

We have survived a bit in the past week. I spent an hour or more in the basement one night due to a tornado watch, which never elevated to a tornado warning (for here. I hear that outlying places had more problems, such as power outages, but ours just didn't get its beauty sleep.) So all in all, a typical May week for South Central Lower Michigan.

Let's start with something we admired last week - the gorgeous pink flowers of the Lunaria (Honesty) plant. In only a week, those flowers have gone to seed stage but just look at the seed packets in picture 2. Don't they look like coins? That's why Lunaria has an alternate name, "Money plant".

This is one reason I run this blog. I like to compare pictures from one week to the next to show how very fast Nature can move, changing the basics of each scene to the next. Here's an example of something that happened a few years ago. I had found a little beetle called Phyllotreta ochripes on my shop outer wall, and this turned out to be something that could kill a creature that likes to eat Garlic Mustard. I had never seen the beetle before, nor had I ever noticed Garlic Mustard in my yard. But now it seems common and totally welcome, and this scene is repeating itself now from time to time. Picture 2 shows an ant in another bit of Garlic Mustard.

I'd like to jump to another subject for right now, since it concerns a pair of Green Frogs that I've gotten to know rather well. The left-most one is the male, Froggy, while the rightmost is the female, Frogga.

I had had some high hopes that these two would get with it and produce some Frog eggs, which would in time hatch into tadpoles and hence to baby Frogs. But while I was looking the other way, a terrible din foreshadowed the entrance of a distraction and annoyance (speaking from the Frog point of view). A few nights ago, the April appearance of the American Toads was announced with a loud trilling song and the next day, there were a few Toads in the pond. Here you see a little yellowish Toad, and on the right a female Toad with a much smaller male Toad on her back (mating in the traditional style). And no Frogs to be seen! This was a few days ago, and I haven't seen either of the Frogs.

As I mentioned, the typical arrival of an American Toad is a shrill trilling. which goes on all night the night they arrive from somewhere in the neighborhood (you can find a solitary Toad at various times of the year, just not in the Pond.) Well, it's now been 3 days and I haven't seen Toad One anywhere now but at night you might just catch the trilling. The thing we have to do now is to wait to see if we can spot a fine netting in the Water Lily plants - this is a sign that they must by now have laid their eggs (in this netting). I haven't seen any such thing yet this go-round. But the toads were out there all day yesterday and toward evening I almost stamped on one near the steps down to the pond.

So we are in the in-between stage of Amphibian Love Story. I'll let you know first when I see a tadpole swimming in the water! And then of course I'll tell you when Frog and Frogga reappear - I hope it's soon! Meanwhile, remember those fat Poppy buds I was reminding you about? About this time last year they opened and shocked us with their gorgeous colors. Well, they're BAAAACK.

Many things are blooming now. First here is the May Apple's secret bowl-shaped flower. The second MIGHT be Dame's Rocket, an early Phlox-imitator. This was the first photo I took of it.

The beautiful golden poppies are nearing an end. There were only one or two of them on today's stand. But the Forget-me-nots are still doing fine out there.

Some more flower talk. Here is the first of the Spiderwort coming.

I was shocked yesterday to see that the Raspberries had already begun opening their flowers.

This is either a Beetle or a Bug which has captured the tiny ant in its grasp. Oh wait! It does seem the big creature is upside-down! Can it be being dragged by the tiny ant-like thing?

Let's see what other kinds of creatures we saw this week. This first critter may be Phyllonorycter celtisella (ID suggested by a member of iNat as Leaf Blotch Miner Moths, Family Gracillariidae). Would YOU have called this a Moth? Well, iNat does. Next is a tiny Butterfly, probably the Zabulon Skipper. The third LOOKS like Pieris rapae (the Cabbage White) except that it doesn't have the delicate little black markings I associate with P. rapae. On the next row are two Moths I found on the dark side of the woodshop.

Here are a few more creatures found outside in the past week. First is one of the many curious Spiders. I used to find many large Spiders around here, but my facility with them dropped over the winter. Sigh. Can this first one be one of the old Large Spider gang? The second is a shot of two (probably) Beetles mating.

Well, folks, it was quite a week and we're all looking forward to an even better one. Take care of yourselves and your part of the world! Love, Martha