The End of Growing Season is Near

As I write this in the last week of September there is certainly a decline in butterflies, the appearance of some new flowers and loss of others, and leaves are falling in some numbers, especially tulip poplars. There is no doubt that the growing season is winding down and you have the feeling that another growing season is passing into the doldrums of winter. But in the meantime there is much to enjoy in the panoply of life passing before us.

A view of part of my backyard reveals some remaining flowers and a lot of vegetative growth. In the 3rd to fourth years after planting most plants have done very well indeed, almost too well. I will need to cut most of them back to be able to see the yard and the water bath. Some plants may even have to be removed to allow for future growth of others. I underestimated the capacity of this hard red clay to support the growth of plants and should have allowed more space between them. This is however a good problem to have rather than thrifty, sparse plants.

A characteristic plant that grows in the early fall is beech drops. Indeed it is rare to have a beech tree without its attendant tiny parasitic neighbors ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epifagus ). This is a flowering plant lacking chlorophyl in its own family which is pollinated by ants. The beech tree is extremely tolerant of shade and thus is a bioindicator of the climax eastern forest. We are lucky to have a few large beech trees left from the early days when most of the original forest was cut down by farmers starting in the middle 1700’s.

Some plants grow in early fall and this attractive but small red morning glory on a riverside trail is one I have not see previously. On a nearby log a colony of chicken of the woods mushrooms suddenly appeared as it has in previous years. If you believe in eating wild mushrooms this would get your juices flowing but I am a less avid devotee of eating wild mushrooms which can of course be quite dangerous.

Although butterflies are noticeably reduced in numbers they still appear on warm days and search for nectar in flowers. This spicebush swallowtail, a Muellerian mimic of the toxic pipevine swallowtail, is shown on a brilliant orange tithonia flower. A tiger swallowtail, the most numerous of our large butterflies, was found “puddling” along the riverside. This activity is a means of obtaining needed sodium salts deposited by animal urine or feces. A hackberry emperor was photographed basking in the early morning sun. One of the most spectacular but small butterflies is the red banded hairstreak which was found feeding on flowers of wingstem, a native aster. Silver spotted skippers are common now and this one has found a recently blooming mist flower.

Into every flowery “garden of Eden” there must of course be predators and this paper wasp is one of the more insidious insects. It makes a nest up under the eves of houses, feeds on flower nectar, but needs meat for its young. Much of this flesh comes from caterpillars killed and cut up for the growing larvae. If the caterpillars are eating your garden plants you will be pleased by this carnivorous habit, but much less so if caterpillars of your beautiful butterflies are prey. In my FL garden these Polistes wasps kill most of my larval butterflies, but they are little problem in NC.

We have many frogs on our property in wetlands along the river. This upland chorus frog is a common species to be heard calling in late winter but is rarely seen in daytime. Note how camouflaged it is resembling a dried leaf. A rarely seen young green anole (but brown here) is also well camouflaged and rarely seen in my experience.

Early fall is the time for serious bird watching. Most species are preparing to migrate and there is the challenge to identify species, many of which have distinctly different plumage in the non-breeding season. I still have hummingbirds in my yard in late September although I read that thousands are now in the gulf states preparing to migrate across to the Yucatan. My resident bluebirds like to come for a communal bath- here there are three males together. It is exciting to see warblers at the bath such as this northern Parula, likely a local breeder as is this female summer tanager. This red eyed vireo is a very commonly heard but a rarely seen resident breeder. The eastern wood peewee flycatcher is another local resident that will soon be migrating south.

I am most excited when I hear local ravens give their hoarse call as they fly over my house. They are so much less common than their cousins the crows. You should be able to recognize the raven by its distinctive silhouette with a huge bill and distinctive tail. They are among the most intelligent birds- the corvids- rivaling the parrots. As direct descendants of the dinosaurs this makes you wonder how smart the dinos were? Maybe it is a very good thing for humans that the Cretaceous asteroid killed the dinosaurs and made room for the mammals to thrive?!