Friday, September 20, 2013

Summer's Last Hurrah...

Two lone hibiscii still in bloom in mid-September, the last flowers I saw (we are a few weeks past peak)... The pink is the bush hibiscus that has naturalized everywhere (generically "Rose of Sharon") including my yard, and the white is Marshmallow (which is native) that can be found all around the freshwater ponds in Cape May Point State Park.








Thursday, September 12, 2013

Glad somebody thinks it's fall...

Goodness knows, summer seems to have returned after the teasers of mid-50° nights we had the other week. But just as retail stores are decked out in Halloween and other autumnal decorations, this little caterpillar is showing off its fall colors.

A coworker gets a bit miffed at people making up new names for beasties that already have names that have been used without trouble for a very long time (that's a Brit for you). But I have to admit that I like "Halloween Paint" much better than "Camphorweed Cucullia" for this glorious little creature... (And before you ask, it turns into a dull little brownish grayish moth, whose only distinguishing feature is a furry "hood" over its head. Here we call them "Hooded Owlets" but the British name for the moth group is, admittedly, more fun: Sharks.)