ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Cicadas are hatching! I've seen a few hatch earlier, but this morning after the rain there are lots of them. The biggest concentration is around the forest garden and edges of the patio. :D These are red-eyed cicadas, technically periodical cicadas. Their carapaces are almost hard, their wings fully extended but still too soft to fly. It's a feast for everything that eats insects. Humans can eat them too. (I'm not planning to try that.) Usually what we get here are various types of the larger green cicadas, like the dog-day cicadas.

See also the poem "The Flying Jewels of Spring."


Several cicadas cling to leaves near their shells.

Several cicadas cling to leaves near their shells.


Here is a closeup of a shell on a leaf.

Here is a closeup of a shell on a leaf.


Many cicadas emerged around the forest garden.

Many cicadas emerged around the forest garden.


This shell is clinging to a grass stem.

This shell is clinging to a grass stem.


A cicada poses on a grass stem.

A cicada poses on a grass stem.


This shell almost forms an abstract picture.

This shell almost forms an abstract picture.


A cicada looks head-on at the camera.

A cicada looks head-on at the camera.


The barrel garden is blooming.

The barrel garden is blooming.


Pink salvia blooms beside the barrel garden.

Pink salvia blooms beside the barrel garden.


A firecracker plant blooms in the barrel garden. Hummingbirds love these things.

PICT0051.JPG


This is the rain garden before today's planting.

This is the rain garden before today's planting.


A purple columbine now blooms in the rain garden.

A purple columbine now blooms in the rain garden.


I abandoned this project halfway through to chase a butterfly. I was taking off the old hanging baskets to replace them with new ones. I have since repurposed the old ones as patio pots.

I abandoned this project halfway through to chase a butterfly.


An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeds on a flowering bush. I am all excited because this is the bush beside the picnic table container garden, where I just planted dill and fennel. I am hoping for caterpillars!

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeds on a flowering bush.


Here is a closeup of the swallowtail butterfly. I don't know what the bush is; it's older than I am. The closest I've found is mock orange but it doesn't seem quite like the pictures.

Here is a closeup of the swallowtail butterfly.

(no subject)

Date: 2024-05-15 07:49 pm (UTC)
greghousesgf: (pic#17096871)
From: [personal profile] greghousesgf
gorgeous! we don't get cicadas here in Calif but we do get tiger swallowtails.

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ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
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