WiseAcre Gardens

White Baneberry - Actaea pachypoda

also known as Doll’s Eyes because the white berry with a black spot resemble - drum roll please - a doll’s eye. The berries are poisonous so I’m pretty sure they’ve never have been used for doll’s eyes.  Actually all parts of the plant are poisonous but that hasn’t stopped people from using it as a medicinal plant.

The berries are harmless to birds that disperse the plant’s seeds. I have no clue to what it does to birds that don’t.

Lophocampa maculata

I still can’t tell which end is the head but from other photos on the web I can at least make a reasonable identification of this caterpillar. Guess I need to expand my Field Guide library to cover creepy crawlies since I’ve started taking photos of them.

Yellow Woolly Bear Background

Who cares which end is which. It looks like lunch no matter how I look at it.

Rooster Background

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Following a lead I went to take photos of Bur Cucumber - Sicyos angulatus - and found a bonus subject when I arrived. Swarming around the old barn and the plants twining it’s way up the side were dozens of paper wasps.

I like this photograph because it caught both the unusual seed pod and flowers at the same time.

This member of the  wild cucumber family could not hold my attention long with the wasps demanding I pay attention to them. More than one had landed on me and I was a bit worried they might mistake me for a threat. I’ll go back and take photos of the plant later. Maybe then I’ll mention the difference between Wild And Bur cucumbers. But for now just one more quick shot of a paper wasp.

You looking at me?