DOUBLE DELIGHTS!
I begin with this unusual beauty seen here in Phippsburg. Twin Pink Ladyslippers! One for each foot! These plants are still blooming but I'd wager you will not see another one like this, found in a friend's backyard. Fortunately she respects wildflowers and will guard its location. Besides these beautiful orchids, other flowers are rising to the occasion of blooming and seed production. Buttercups carpet the fields. Blue Eyed Grasses are vying for attention as Bluets make their last claim for attention. I love it when people mow around these blue clumps, or wait until their petals drop.

Here is another puzzle for you. I found these while weeding in my flower bed. Gardening is always a great time to make insect discoveries, and I thought "Oh boy, look at these caterpillars!" They are not insects, and not a late blooming Pussy Willow......these are bud covers from large orange Poppies that are now creating a floral scene in my garden. It has been such fun watching those fuzzy buds crack open with its production of large orange petals. The covers eventually pop off and drop to the ground. I have not been patient enough to actually see the flower expand and get rid of those bug-like covers. These poppies are well visited by insects and even that speedy Hummingbird! These are the poppy flowers and what attracts those visits. Mother Nature has quite an imagination when it comes to this flower. Too bad they don't bloom continuously all summer!

Let's see......I was over to the campground that is poised to open for the season, including the kelp shed! I asked Donny what animals had been seen recently. Here is his report: Baby Beavers have been seen swimming, Muskrats are active nearby, Glossy Ibis are stalking the waters of the Lily Pond and a Turkey family is parading through the woodlands! All this is awaiting your arrival, along with the blooming Rugosa Roses and Beach Peas!

Now is the time when female turtles leave their wet habitat behind, to find a sandy place for egg laying. I slowed down this week when someone had stopped to help a turtle across busy route 209. Sometimes it is dangerous to stop, but if you do, make sure you help the turtle across in the direction it is going. Otherwise, it will just start across again. If the animal has been hit, but not crushed, I try to extract the eggs and lay them myself. Just a thought.
6/14/07 Ronnie, double whammied!