u/yogurtchild55

[MD 7A]

I recently saw a post that mentioned how native planting becomes more effective when you spread plants to the neighbors.

I want to ask my neighbors if they would be ok with me planting some native flowers in their yard, but Im ngl Im nervous. Also I want to make sure they will actually like rhe flowers. A lot of them are the type who like manicured lawns and flowerbeds. Unfortunately many of the natives I like are a little more wild as seen in the photo(I love my dogfennel)

What are some top picks for appealing flowers that a typical neighbor might like?

Has anyone had any success of sharing natives with neighbors?

I included some photos of my plants. Ps. I love Coneflowers but I now realize they are not native to the Eastern US so I probably won't spread them.

Plants shown are

Blackeyed Susans, Purple Coneflower, Dogfennel, Partridge pea, Buttonbush, Mountain mint, Late Thoroughwort

Saw this guy a little while ago and thought he was absolutely beautiful. I decided to try drawing him using pen. I was originally gonna use colored pencil ✏️ but I had a lot of fun with the pen. I hope one day I can share insect drawings that will make more people see the beauty in them.

I included tge original image for reference

I finally sat down to draw this Borer Moth I saw a while ago. They were so pretty and knew I had to draw it.

I used a alcohol marker base with ballpoint pen and colored pencil. Plus a little bit if posca for the highlights. After trying out ballpoint pens seriously I now understand there power.

I also attached the original photo and the original drawing. I've been working on using measurements to try and hebas accurate as I can. Still a struggle though cause everything is so small. 😅

Been tired of squishing these guys so I've moved to the bottle method. Usually I freeze them but after testing a few methods it seems syrup mixed in some water does just as good of a job.

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Within 10 minutes they stopped moving. Maybe they're just drowning (sorry) or maybe the mixture of water and syrup prevents them from jumping and then suffocates them. Not sure, but I feel kind of bad now. They irritate me but also it's not their fault they're here. Oh well 🫤

Ok not completely my backyard but still. I like these photos from some of the common birds I've seen. They're all so beautiful to me!!!😍

Saw a young Tufted Titmouse today. It flew behind me and landed on my bird feeder. He looked rough but in a cute way. ❤️❤️❤️

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Decided to do a sketch based on it.

One hope to find some more nature buddies who like to see moths and different plants and insects. Until then Ill just share here some of the cool and pretty moths I've seen.

Also if there are any inaccuracies in my list or you know one of the unidentified moths leave a comment. I've been using the Peterson field guide for moths of the NorthEast

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1. Dogwood Borer Moth

2. Large lace-Border moth

3. Tulip-tree beauty

4. Red-banded leaf roller

5. Unsure

6. Yellow-fringed Dolichomia moth

7. Still unsure

8. A type of Idia moth (species not identified yet)

9. Scythropiodes issikii (this one wasn't in my guide at all)

10. Hollow-spotted Blexpharomastix moth

[MD 7A]

Does anyone have any tips for growing natives in trays. I've tried a few times but I only seem to have success with winter sowing milk jugs. I like the jug method but I want to grow many sprouts to move to the garden and I feel like you need many jugs to get a good amount of sprouts. I also want plugs because it makes the transfer easier.

Unfortunately, most of my trays come out like this. Dry with no sprouts. Even if I start them in the fall or winter its the same. Should I put plastic wrap on top?

What are y'alls tips or processes for growing in trays?

I hope to one day grow enough to share with others.

First image just has a contrast bump. I'm still trying to find out how to make a really deep and rich black. Might need to mix in markers next time.

One out of a series of insect illustrations I plan to do. Mostly I'm focused on moths, butterflies, and bees, but I may includeany other bugs I think are cool 😎! There's still a lot to learn. In the future I want to really focus on anatomy and making really deep colors.

First image has some small color corrections and second image is the original 😁

I forget how strong and determined ants are for their size. They're fully scaling the sides of the cup with peanuts and seeb. Can't even be mad cause I left the cup outside 😅

I like two ants that are working together to carry a chunk of peanut 🥜 😂

[MD 7A]

This gal was very shiny! Also very pretty. Inaturalist suggested it was a mining bee, possibly a cherry mining bee. I hope to see one of these guys again. I feel like a crow sometimes when it comes to shiny insects. Honestly the image doesn't capture the shine of her abdomen and hairs. ✨️✨️✨️😀

If this is a Cherry mining bee I will plant all the native cherries I can get my hands on. I don't need much to convince me to plant native plants. I have several young trees and plants in the backyard already 😅😅😅

Saw a Margined Leatherwing beetle. I literally just learned what it was but I found it's look striking. I liked it alot and decided to draw it. I'm still working on getting insect proportions but it was a fun exercise nonetheless I made the head and thorax area a little too big. 😀

Original image included.

So I recently spotted a potential mining bee of some sort.

Either she made a nest under the milkweed sprout I planted or I planted a Milkweed sprout over her nest 😅

Anyway I'm trying to identify her using my own resources. I have the book "The Bees In Your Backyards " by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger. The book has definitely been helping me learn different characteristics of different bees, but it's mostly helped me in identifying families and genus. I want to be able to deduce the species without solely relying on apps yknow.

- How do you bee enthusiast go about identifying bees in the field?

- Also what type of bee do you think she is?

I'm going out to try and get better pictures. She was a busy bee and my images came out blurry.

I've been watching these caterpillars for like a month outside. Then one day they disappeared. Lol turns out they were maturing to their next stage in life. 😄 Does anyone else watch these guys through their life stages?

They came out very cute ❤️❤️❤️

Hey is this a Willow oak sprout? I work at a nursery and noticed this guy grow in a Cyprus container. I doubt the nursery wants this guy so if he's a native tree I might take him and give him his own pot...

Based on the quick search I did he seems to be a Willow oak, but I wanted a second opinon.

Beautiful moth friend found once again inside my mini greenhouse. I swear these flying creatures will not stop getting trapped in it. I zipped up the entrance so hopefully it will keep them out.

Still this little guy is another cutie 💓. According to inaturalist he might be a "Tulip Yree Beauty" 🌷 a nocturnal moth native to North America. Seeing so many beautiful moths makes me want to try raising them, but I don't know if you can raise the moths I'm interested in.

Also can you release them after they're fully grown? I'd want them to be free eventually and add to the population. 🤔

I believe based on inaturalist this is a Nais Tigermoth and he was absolutely gorgeous!!! I am in love with their beauty 😍 💕 ❤️ 💖

Also I'm pretty sure he's a male right?

Ignore my stubby fingers please.

I think this might be a walnut or maybe a hickorynut. I'm pretty sure a squirrel planted this and came back for it, cause the pot was knocked over when I found it. Squirrely was a little too late 😅

At first I didn't know what plant it was but when I dug it up I was shocked to see a whole nut. I was trying to use the pot it was in but I decided to just repot it. I felt bad after the work it was doing to grow.

I think one of my favorite parts of native gardening is seeing what other animals bring!

Last photo is of sprout in it's restored pot.

So I've been doing bird photography for maybe two years now and while I've definitely improved there are still a lot of areas that I struggle. I love taking photos of birds yet I still find it challenging to get clear photos.

My current settings that I'm using are

-Aperture priority with a Aperture of 9.0, AI servo and continuous shooting. I learned these settings from a YouTube video and for the most part it has done me well, but I feel like I'm still missing something.

To some degree I understand that there are some obstacles I need to work around. Such as...

-Low light in forests and how it affects my aperture size and shutter speed.

-Weight of the camera lens. I used it handheld because many of the birds I see are small or move around alot.

-Having a longer lens affecting the auto focus capabilities.

Many different beautiful birds are either breeding or migrating through Maryland and Virginia and I couldn't be more excited. I'm planning to head to the Dyke Marsh in Virginia soon and I want to prepare so that I can get more clear photos 😐

Does anyone have tips on how to work with this lens and camera? Specifically how to optimize my settings for working with the smaller more quick subjects such as song birds.

Or maybe this how it's supposed to be and I just need to keep shooting. Thanks to anyone who finished reading this long text. 😅 Lastly the birds photographed here are...

Black throated Warbler, American Redstart, Scarlett Tanager, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a wet Tufted Tit mouse 😀