What to See This Week

Our own native hibiscus, swamp rose mallow, has begun blooming in wet areas around The Arboretum, especially at the Red Barn Reserve and Dutch Fork Wetlands. This is an obligate wetland plant, meaning that it almost always grows in wetlands under natural conditions. You can see the flowers in shades of pink and white.

You can find cardinal flower blooming in natural areas around The Arboretum as well as in the Bird Watching Garden. This plant is a popular choice for hummingbirds. While we have tons of native yellow, white, and even purple flowers, it is a lot less common to run into a bright red flower, so this plant certainly stands out.

Ironweed is blooming all over The Arboretum. Ironweed is one of the tallest blooms out there right now with some plants reaching over 8 feet. They have bright purple flowers that attract a variety of pollinators. 

Bladderwort flowers may not be as noticeable as some of the showier flowers we are seeing this time of the year, but they are especially interesting. Bladderworts are carnivorous plants. The flowers grow above the surface but most of the plant is underwater. They have small sac-like structures that trap tiny organisms like plankton and digest them.

There are signs of wildlife everywhere you look. Even this post became a nesting spot for a house wren this season. Inside the hole and poking through the crack were tons of little twigs often used in nest construction for the house wren. They are cavity nesters, sometimes using the bluebird boxes located throughout The Arboretum. House wrens are only with us for the breeding season, migrating to South American for the winter.

With so many things blooming in the prairies, butterflies are out and about! Pictured here is a black swallowtail, one of several species of swallowtail that can be seen in our area. Black swallowtail caterpillars only feed on plants from the parsley/carrot family, so the caterpillars can sometimes be found in the Learning Garden vegetable beds!

Pawpaw season is coming up quick. These small trees are great for wildlife, too! Pictured here is a zebra swallowtail laying an egg on a young pawpaw. She spent at least 20 minutes fluttering slowly around all the pawpaw saplings laying eggs here and there. Zebra swallowtails are striking with black, white, and red coloration. They also have the longest tails relative to their wings of any swallowtail in Ohio (although this one appears to have lost its tails).

With all these eggs being laid surely there had to be caterpillars around, too. These pawpaws had tons of tiny zebra swallowtail caterpillars, a couple in middle stages, and finally this huge final stage caterpillar. Swallowtail caterpillars have a forked defensive organ near their head called an osmeterium. When disturbed the osmeterium is extended out and releases a strong smell.