WiseAcre Gardens

First the flower then the bug.

Blue Eyed Grass – Sisyrinchium mucronatum

The plant looks like grass but a closer look reveals the Iris Family lineage. Blue eyed grass can be found in fields and meadows and often growing along roadsides. Actually you find it where you find it. In this case I found only one but there it was in a shady lane. This is a species of blue eyed grass with NO branched stems. One clue to the identity – the leaves are much shorter than the flower stem.

Bug Time

Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle – Cicindela sexguttata

This ground beetle is seldom found far from the woods. It’s color can be bluish and the spots may be missing but it’s supposed to be hard to confuse this beetle with any others.

Don’t you just hate it when that expensive metallic paint job starts to flake?

click for larger image

Can you see it?
The back end of this spider looks like a rear end of a Holstein cow with a bobbed tail.

No? How about a spider living in a fuzzy snail shell?

Images are linked to a larger version (1024 x 768) for a better view.
You may use them as desktop wallpaper but no other use is permitted without permission.
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Which brings me to genetic manipulation. Think of the possibilities. Who wouldn’t want fat free spider milk? Cow silk could replace petroleum based fibers and ease the demand for our limited oil supplies. How about snails with more than one foot on the evolutionary ladder?

But best of all, cocooned mad scientists being able to think about the next thing eating at them.

The flowers have been open for over a week now but you’d never know it unless you looked down between the pairs of fuzzy leafstalks.

Wild Ginger – Asarum canadense

My typical photos of the flowers are a lot like them – usually fuzzy. This time I got a decent focus and surprised myself. My old eyes never saw the ‘fangs’ in the mouth of the flower before.

The flower images are linked to a larger size (1024 x 768) for a closer look. Use them as desktop backgrounds if you like. But if you prefer something slimy wait till you get to the end of the post.

I figured you’d scroll to the bottom to find the icky stuff. Here’s a frog trio that seems to have oozed and fused together.

Yep – click for wallpaper version so you can see the frog in the middle.