Have you been hearing a strange yet familiar noise. A noise made by an insect. A fairly ugly insect? Well I have, and if you haven't guess what the insect is...it's the periodical cicada! No, it's not quite our turn to have them emerge en masse, but there can be stragglers according to www.magicicada.org. This is a great website where you can see which broods emerge when and where, and even listen to the different songs and calls of these bugs. There is a link to where you can report sightings of periodical cicadas from places (like here) where they are not expected. I made my own report of the ones I heard and the one we found yesterday!
Moving on from insects to flowers - although totally related! I have a new list for you, and there are lots of new things in bloom. We have moved into the season where most of the flowers will now be found in our sunny open areas. The wet meadow at the beginning of the boardwalk for example will have lots and lots of flowers from now until the end of the growing season.
A quick note of what is still in bloom: Twayblade orchid, foxglove (cultivated), waterlilies, blue-eyed grass, two lined cynthia, rattlesnake weed, mock orange, and pale violet. Here is what's new:
Smooth Penstemon
Purple Meadow Rue
Sweet Flag
Moneywort
Partridgeberry
Stonecrop (cultivated)
Elderberry
Green Dragon
Honewort
Deptford Pink
Venus's Looking-glass
Wahoo (native)
Indian Pipe
Mountain Laurel
