With David’s invitation, we headed back back to see the farm in the fall. Indeed, a lovely day to visit!
In fashionable fall golden orange colors, the grasses were awfully pretty!
In the fall, the Croton flower has fallen away yet it is still beautiful!
Nestled among the grasses, were Hypericums.
A large tree had been cut down. Taking advantage of this, an armadillo had dug a den in the protection of the hollow. The armadillo had chosen well with this stump as fortress!
A seed head of Rough-stem Rosinweed (Silphium radula)! As Suzanne explained to us, the viable seeds are only produced by the ray flowers (petals part) in the Silphium genus. Thanks Suzanne!
So here are the short stiff hairs on the leaves. Scabrous is the word for the stiff hairs.
Next, the small young Blackjack oak displays a beautiful leaf.
The sunlight reflected off of a shimmering charred cedar!
A closer view!
A concaved puffball!
Then another one had lost it top. And purple spores were in full view!
An old Peeling Puffball. Indeed, there were hardly any spores available to set free.
Suzanne told us about the white yucca moths. They live in Arkansas Yucca seed pods and other yucca species. So apparently the adult moth is short lived and does need to feed. The eggs are laid in the ovary, but not enough to harm the plant. Only one female will lay her eggs in one flower. She can detect the smell if another one has already deposited eggs in that flower. When the larva is full grown, it drops to ground. Then it buries itself to wait until the following spring. What a cool partnership!
Suzanne found this Praying Mantis egg casing. Carly was the photographer. And Meghan identified to the Stagnomantis genus. Truly great team work!
A top view! So ootheca is the name of a manitises’ egg case. If you see small holes, then the babies have emerged already. In this case, no holes. Thanks Carly and Meghan!
Finally to sum it up, it was a great day to be on the prairie with like minded souls! Thank you all!
It was quite a good day! Looking forward to more days like it!
Charred cedar is beautiful