Today, I went to the Dixon Water Foundation to hang out with other prairie nerds! It was with the NPAT Ft. Worth chapter’s Prairie Seeker training for the spring.
As you can see in the photo, the group is looking close and learning! It is delightful to have students from UNT join the us! Some of the group had attended the fall Prairie Seeker Training.
A Texas Paper Wasp (Polistes apachus) is one of the many kinds of species that like the Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis)!
A Dark Flower Scarab (Euphoria sepulcralis) was chowing down on the Sensitive Briar! Sensitive Briar is also a host plant for the Gray Hairstreak.
Evaline was the oldest of the group. Furthermore, she was not going to let anything stop her from seeing the grotto. She has been a member of NPAT and NPSOT for more than thirty years! Go Evaline!
Out on the prairie, we saw many Drummond’s Skullcap. Certainly this must be a different variety. Sorry I couldn’t resist. And I didn’t even take photo of the real skullcap LOL.
Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella) and Sensitive Briar (Mimosa quadrivalvis var. platycarpa)!
Texas Stonecrop (Sedum pulchellum) was blooming. I had not seen this species blooming before so it was a real treat!
Finally, this little and young Ruddy Dagger Moth caterpillar (Acronicta rubricoma) was hanging out in our woods this morning. You can see that is has five prolegs. So for identification purposes, it is important to note how many prolegs a caterpillar has. It swung on the silk thread for a moment. Then it started to make the climb back up to a tree branch.
Love your skullcap. And i love sensitive briar. I always have to touch it and watch it react. Looks like a great outing.
Sure was!! ð
Lovely day and love your skullcap! ðĪŠ Toasty warm though.
Indeed, I agree with that assessment on the weather ð
Oh! That’s great to see Sedum pulchellum in the wild! I have some growing from purchased seed in my garden.
I assume you put on your blog Cast Iron Forest to Skillet (https://garden.eeclaire.com/), how easy it was to grow?