A bumble bee was taking advantage of some bugleweed flowers.

Ajuga Reptans ‘Caitlin’s Giant

I tried out this variety last year. It wintered over nicely and is already sending out runners. I’m going to get more. It can be invasive but isn’t that what you want when planting a ground cover? Besides, bugleweed is shallow rooted and easy enough to control. That is unless you wait until it’s established in the lawn and too late.

Here’s the bumble I promised

…and now I’ll leave you with some fungus.

Dryad Saddle – Polyporus squamosus

AKA – Pheasant’s-back Polypore.
This mushroom grows from deciduous wood, both living and dead. In my experience – mostly dead. It is edible but older specimens are supposedly too tough to eat. Another field guide states the tender edges of the caps can be pickled, sauteed or fried. I prefer mine photographed.

They weren’t kidding when they named it Polyporus.

Dryad Saddles are a reminder to start looking for Morels. Lilacs beginning to bloom + Dryad Saddles = Morel Season. I won’t eat those either but have friends that will.

Hunting season pretty much means I’m staying the jello out of the woods, meadows or anywhere else I might be mistaken for a deer. You can’t be too safe but I hold the line at moving into the basement because someone might mistake the house for a buck because it has an antenna on it. No kidding.

Rummaging the photo album will have to do for a while. These images of a yellow jacket wasp are from Sept. 26.

I don’t remember if it was chilly out or not but the wasp did act sluggish. I normally wouldn’t stick my camera in a Yellow Jacket’s face having fully experienced their pleasent disposition before.

They form a tight social group, wear colors, are easy to anger and aggressivly defend their turf.

They’re like an inner city gang in some ways.

Images are linked to a larger size (1024 x 768) for a closer look. They’re suitable to use as personal desktop backgrounds if you like.

(edited 9/16/09 to fix the link to Toronto Gardens)

The mystery caterpillar is now identified – I think. Two frequent visitors sent me on a merry chase which ended happily at bugguide.net

Helen at Toronto Gardens and sharkbytes at My Quality Day definitely deserve a little link love for their help.

Helen was too close – I almost didn’t check any further. The Pearly Wood Nymph – Eudryas unio – is a spitting image to what I found after digging a bit deeper.

sharkbytes was a bit further off. The Eight Spotted Forester moth caterpillar – Alypia octomaculata – she suggested was a near miss.

Beautiful Wood-Nymph caterpillar – Eudryas grata

What made me decide it was neither of the suggested species?

I’ll start with the runner up. Helen’s pick of the Pearly Wood Nymph has two differences I could make out. The Pearly Wood Nymph has a blue/white thoracic shield and 2 dots on the prolegs. As you can see in the image this one has the orange thoracic shield and single dot on the prolegs. Those differences leads me to believe this is a Beautiful Wood-Nymph caterpillar.

sharkbytes suggestion gets a bronze medal for her efforts. Her pick forgot to shave though. There are no hairs on the caterpillar I photographed but it’s easy to see how she made the pick. After browsing through countless thumbnails it’s not hard to latch on to something that looks so close. I don’t ‘borrow’ images so use the link to check out her pick, Eight Spotted Forester – Alypia octomaculata at bugguide.net

A big thanks to all who went looking for an answer to yesterday’s conundrum. It really bugs me when I can’t ID something so distinctive.