New critter post! This is the Papilio polyxenes or Black Swallowtail Caterpillar. I found this guy on a Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders) that looked like he'd had a feast on it. The coolest thing about these guys is that they have an osmeterium which is a fleshy, neon orange gland they keep inside their foreheads. When threatened, they inflate it to frighted off predators. It looks like a snakes tongue and emits a foul smell. I got a shot of a partially inflated one but when fully inflated it really does look like a snakes tongue. I also just found out that I saw this guy in an earlier level of development where they mimic bird poop to avoid getting eaten, check it out:

This week I went out with the Natural Areas crew to do clip and drip control of invasives at the Edward's Lake Cliffs Preserve. Clip and drip is pretty self explanitory, you clip off the majority of the plant and then drip a small amount of herbicide on the cut tip thus giving the herbicde direct contact with the xylem and phloem of the plant and accelerating its spread throughout the plants system. This method is useful when dealing with weeds that occur in places where they are surrounded by plants you don't want to get herbicide on. The invasives we attacked were Cynanchum rossicum - Plae Swallow-wort and Securigera varia - Crownvetch, both super-noxious plants. Here's a view from the cliff tops:

Time for some more ID! First I give you Verbascum blattaria or Moth Mullein. I had always thought this species was called its common name because of its importance to moths but it turns out they call it Moth Mullein because the flower looks like a moth. Lame! Anyway this is not a native plant but it still can be found in the wildflower garden this is the yellow variety, it also can bloom white. Next we'll look at Penstemon digitalis or the Foxglove Beardtongue. Although I've recently become more partial to its more delicate relative Penstemon hirsuta, this has always been one of my favorite natives. Aside from its beauty it is a tough, adaptable plant preferring full sun but tolerating a fair amount of shade, and I have seen this plant grow in wetlands as well as from dry rocky soil. An excellent choice for restoration or a perennial garden it has some excellent cultivars and supports native bumblebees. Finally I present one of my all time favorite plants Opuntia humifusa the Eastern Prickly Pear. This is the only cactus native to the northeast and can be found from Florida to Cape Cod. Basically the fact that a plant clearly meant for the desert has adapted itself to our wet weather is awesome! Aside from being a unique evergreen addition to any garden, it produces edible (if prickly) fruit, and gorgeous, exotic-looking flowers.

A new Learning Monday this week. We focused on tree climbing and tree care. Here's the large Quercus palustris - Pin Oak we practiced climbing on. Ain't she a beaut! You can see the setup we had for climbing in this picture of Peter climbing the tree. Here's a picture that makes it look like I climbed much higher than I did. And here's one of Trinity just hanging around. At the break I got some shots of more critters. The first was this line of immature Branta canadensis - Canada Geese gracefully steaming up the pond. These ubiquitous birds are in themselves relatively harmless but are seen as a pest due to the profusion of large droppings they leave in their wake. Here we see a Marmota monax colloquially known as a groundhog, woodchuck, whistle-pig, or land-beaver these largest of the New World squirrels can be a problem because of their penchant for dining on the plants we humans are trying to grow for our enjoyment. This little fatkins was particularly large considering its only June! These critters Homo sapiens sapiens - Human were everywhere! These young were climbing in the sculpture garden where one of the little females described the experience as the "best field trip ever". I also got a shot of the lichen Cladonia cristatella - British Soldier Lichen called so because its red fruiting bodies resemble the red uniforms once worn by British Soldiers. This species tends to colonized dry, rocky soils but is picture here growing a top a bridge piling in the Arboretum. Finally after the break was over we learned to respect but not fear the chain saw, that's right Daisy, give that log the business!

Here are some more shots of the new planting we're installing. This first shot gives you an idea of how we're massing Athyrium filix-femina - Lady Fern and Dryopteris intermedia - Intermediate Woodfern around some of the existing chunks of shale of site to highlight them. Here you can somewhat see how I planted Sedum ternatum - Woodland Stonecrop in the dirt pockets on some of the shale chucks, which once it fills in will look really spectacular. Here you can really see many of the plugs we planted. And finally this will be the view from the new viewing are we are planning to install soon.

More Critters! Check out this Archelon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archelon) of a Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) I spotted down on Fall Creek! I also saw this punk rocker of a Ceresa spp. - Treehopper nymph while weeding later that day.

This prehistoric beast was found while weeding in the rain. Due to the fact that its wings were heavy with water it could not fly away at first and gave us a chance to view it up close. I believe it is an Aeshna constricta - Lance-tipped Darner Dragonfly.

For several days we've been working at clearing out our beds in the lathe house. The lathe house is a structure for growing out plants which protects them from herbivory and the worst of the sun/wind while exposing them to all the other aspects of the elements. Our beds were pretty wild and wooly but we've managed to get them under some semblance of control and will continue to. Addtionally I learned a new plant in the lathe house; Roscoea auriculata. This beautifully flowering member of the Ginger family is native to the Himalayas but unlike most members of this family is cold hardy to Zone 7b due to its mountainous origins.

Here's a look at what's blooming in the beds by Judd Falls Rd. As this tends to be more of a prairie like bed some of the plants here are more commonly found further west. Coreopsis lancolata - Lance-leaved Coreopsis this showy yellow daisy-like plant serves both as a harbor for predatory and parsitic insects that help control pests, and as a nectary for many native bee species. Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Milkweed like all milkweeds this plant is important in the life cycle of monarch butterflies and several milkweed dependent beetles. It also serves as a nectary for many other pollinators. Tradescantia subaspera - Zig-zag Spiderwort like the Coreopsis above is of special interest to native bees as a food plant. Baptisia australis - Wild Indigo yields an indigo dye almost as good as the true indigo plant. It too is an important nectary for native bees, specifically honeybees.

After our photo session, seeing as it was a hot day myself and some of the other interns took a walk up to the little waterfall on Fall Creek above Beebe Lake to dabble our feet. No better way to cool off to my mind!

This last learning Monday we learned about photography and how to best use our cameras to get the pictures we want. Here are some of the fruits of my efforts