Vermilion Murmurs and Malus within a November Landscape

Cinnabar and Dragon blood come to mind when seeing the vibrant vermilion sprays of our middle garden Japanese Maple. Its blazing breath reaches over towards payne's gray shadows racing through the forested hills, we call Walnut Hill and High Ridge, creating a stunning contrast. Sturdy oaks still grasping their last burnt sienna leaves are nearly naked now. The Japanese Maple is as out of place in our landscape as an ancient Dracaena cinnabari might be, but it is a dormant dragon so lifting the spirit with its late and lasting fiery vibrance. 

Viburnums have yet to let go of their purple leaves.

Cotinus, without the smoke, adds to the last of early November's crimson garden palette. 

Another sleeping dragon rests just below the farmhouse in our weeping Cutleaf Japanese Maple.

Other reds in the gardens this November are juicy spheres by the hundreds . . . apples remaining on, or below, the apple trees. We have a variety of Malus senior citizens about the gardens and are thankful to those who planted the ever giving trees, one at least, over a century ago.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' still wearing its burgundy tones before aforementioned century old apple tree. 

A stream of free falls given a good wash make yummy apple sauce. 

Weeping crabapple outside of the little studio offers a tangy feast for over wintering birds.

Our Metasequoia in the north field spreads out her russet plumes.

In the south field sumac brightens the fading countryside.

Meanwhile, as bold colors depart and cold, chilly air arrives, I have added another warbler to my 'A Bestiary. . . Tales From A Wildlife Garden' over at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. The stout little Black-throated Blue Warbler becomes the twenty-fourth beast . . . the seventh warbler . . .  joining the bubbly bouquet of songbirds.

Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012 ~ Eastern Tailed-Blue and Summer Azure

Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012 continues with two little Blues of the Gossamer-wings family. Last year in July, I had an exciting first capture of an Eastern Tailed-Blue Everes comyntas, which I spotted along the edge of the south field. A bit smaller than the Summer Azure, these small beauties are also considered common throughout most of the eastern half of North America. 

The Eastern Tailed-Blue has three flights beginning around the middle of May through the first part of June, then the middle of July till the end of July and mid August through to late September. To make identification confusing each brood may look somewhat different. A tell tale sign of the Eastern Tailed-Blue is the orange eyespot like markings on the bottom hindwings and the tiny thread like tails, though as with the one captured here those may disappear with time. They are such beautiful little butterflies. I so wish the wings were fully open to illustrate the gorgeous blue but a peek shows a bit of the color that seems to vary between broods and sexes.

In between these flight stages would be the time to search out the single eggs and dark green caterpillars on buds and stalks of clovers (if the rabbits leave me any) and various legumes. Here at Flower Hill Farm the little blues might enjoy the vetches growing in the airy north and south fields and perhaps I might find caterpillars along the forest edge.

Eastern Tailed-Blues overwinter in their caterpillar stage.

Summer Spring Azure Celastrina ladon, is perhaps the most confusing butterfly I have ever tried to identify. Thanks to Joe from the Massachusetts Butterfly Group on Facebook, I think I have it right. The sighting of this tiny 3/4 - 1 1/4 blue was just outside our little studio last August. This makes it a summer form of the Spring Azure, if I understand correctly. The Azure is considered common and flies from early spring up to early September throughout much of the United States.

A great diversity of plants and shrubs serve as hosts for the larva that resembles a slug, including cherry, blueberries, maple, dogwood, viburnum, oak, lupine and more and more. It is a wonder since Flower Hill Farm has all of these and many more of the other listed host plants and trees that I have never seen this butterfly here before. I can only assume the birds are incredibly fastidious in searching out the caterpillars and then the butterflies, or I have just not been in the right place at the right time.

The butterflies also choose from a variety of flowers. Males congregate along streams and puddles and will sample excrement and carrion. Azures prefer fields with shrubs to an open airy field, so I now know to look more in the blueberry fields when they begin to flower, for the caterpillars prefer flowers to leaves. Right now the chrysalis forms is in hiding perhaps below the blueberry bushes in the photographs below. Azure butterflies only live for a few days, beginning courtship and then laying eggs very soon after emerging from their yellow-brown chrysalis.

Within  the blueberry field above and below, Azure chrysalises may be safely awaiting the unfurling of buds.

The little caterpillars of the Eastern Tailed-Blue will have to remain hidden from the sharp eyes of the Bluebirds. 

It is truly overwhelming to imagine all the hidden life within these fields . . . section of north field above and south field below . . . both will be filled with wildflowers in a months time.

The returning Tree Swallows fill the sky with fluid dance, songs and champagne like gurgles. 

Their presence in the gardens and sky above is pure delight and they eat hundreds of biting insects each day.

I hope there will be plenty of food for the birds and that many of these precious blues will survive to fly about the wildflower and blueberry fields later this spring.

Our temps have dipped back down into the 30's with some sleet and snow showers promised in a day. Though I love the warmth, I would rather have these colder spring days than suddenly having summer upon us. We had a couple of days in the 70's this past week and the heat makes all the new emerging life move too quickly. I so love a slow spring after a long winter, one that allows us to pause and celebrate renewal . . . and now I have a bit more time to catch up with last years butterflies!

WELCOME OCTOBER and the Return of BLOOMING FRIDAY

I am so happy to be joining my Swedish friends and others over at Katarina's Roses and Stuff  to celebrate Autumn and the return of Blooming Friday. We have missed you Katarina! 

If you have not had a chance to see my post just yesterday about a wonderful writer/gardener/blogger . . . who came for tea, please follow the country road or just scroll down to learn about our fellow blogger 'Commonweeder'.

A Gracious and Lovely Blogger Comes for Tea!

I am sure you all know the feeling . . .  when you meet someone, who immediately makes you feel comfortable and you somehow know will become a good friend in time. Well such was my feeling the minute I met Pat, author of the outstanding blog 'Commonweeder'. I was so taken by her beautiful blue eyes, generous spirit, delightful wit and relaxed, graceful nature. 

Pat is a writer  . . . has been a writer for a very long time. She writes for a local newspaper 'The Greenfield Recorder' and has her own column titled 'Between the Rows', which can be read on her blog each Saturday. Imagine writing a column every week for thirty years. 'Commonweeder'  is nearly three years old and is the reason I have the good fortune to have Pat walk into my life and gardens. Pat and I live about forty minutes from one another, though we may never have met . . .  if not for blogging. She calls her home in Heath 'End of the Road' and this is where she gardens, writes and bakes lots of cakes and pies. She arrives for tea offering one of her cakes and her reputation as a gourmet cook is not exaggerated. It was so light and delicious. 

After tea we walk about the gardens and into the south field, where I hope to share many Monarch butterflies flitting about the Asters. While walking, I learned more about Pats interesting life. She lived in China from 1989 - 1990 and again for a year in 1995, where she worked as an editor of an English language magazine titled 'Women of China.' Pat tells me the magazine offered an honest look of women's lives, at that time, in the past and going ahead . . .  changes that were occurring to improve their lives. The times that Pat was living in China gave her a different perspective on two major events . . . the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and in 1995 the UN Women's Conference. She said "Both of those years opened my eyes in ways I could not have imagined about life in other countries." Pat was also sending essays back to the Greenfield Recorder during these years. I look forward to hearing more about this amazing journey Pat. 

Pat taught me that the way to bake the best apple pie is by using several different kinds of apples. I was happy to be able to offer her at least three varieties to take home. 

The field of Asters and Goldenrod were filled with thousands of wild Honeybees and we did see a few Monarchs at the farther edge of the field.

Pat quietly exclaimed when eyeing this Maple all painted in rich red hues hanging above the swaths of purple. The light was gone from the field, when we were walking . . . we were so engaged in conversation and cake that the time just flew by. I took these photos the next day, when the light was better.

Meeting a fellow blogger after getting to know them in the virtual world is such a treat. Having one so nearby is truly lucky and Pat I do hope we will have many times, where we visit sharing stories, tea and cake . . .  enjoying lovely walks. I feel so grateful for the blogging community that has brought us together. I will continue to enjoy Pat's blog 'Commonweeder'  . . .  for its great stories, reviews of books and happenings, as well as . . .  Pat's beautiful gardens in Heath. 

After Pat headed home to Heath and husband Henry, I spend the remaining hour or two of light enjoying the view and watching the moonrise over Walnut Hill. I feel honored and gently touched by a kindred spirit, while filled with gratitude for the special first day of autumn we shared.
 I had no idea when I started my blog, how much I would enjoy visiting other blogs and meeting in person other bloggers. This year I met three fellow bloggers. You might recall this post.  We are all so lucky to be able to reach out and touch one another's lives the globe over. To inspire one another and share our worlds. It would be great to have an early to midweek New England gathering someday . . . my work is mostly on the weekends so I miss those fun meet-ups. Pat and I discussed this during our visit and hope there is some interest out there. Let us know. As I am finishing this post, the rain is falling steadily and I rejoice in the sounds and needed drink it gives to the gardens and thousands of trees covering the hillside. If your landscape is parched, I hope you get the vital rainfall soon.