Argiope aurantia: she is still hanging around. Above, dorsal view; below, ventral, after she obligingly turned around for us.
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That Spider Again
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French Marigold
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Bee Movie
That pun works better in conversation than in print, but here is a movie of bees pollinating Hibiscus syriacus flowers, set to the music of Adolph Krantz. You can go to the Wikimedia Commons hosting page for the HD version.
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Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
Growing in the Kane Woods Nature Area, Scott Township.
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Spider
This beautiful creature showed up and demanded to have its portrait taken with old Pa Pitt’s Olympus E-20N. Father Pitt knows nothing about spiders, except that some of them are very artistic. If you happen to know this creature’s name, Father Pitt would be very grateful for an identification in the comments.
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Cloudscape
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Spotted Lanternfly
Lycorma delicatula, a beautiful but destructive invader from China. Above we see the adult version; below are three views of the nymph in its late stage (an earlier stage looks similar, but black instead of red).
Allegheny County is in the Spotted Lanternfly quarantine zone, where these pests have become a serious problem. Their favorite host is the Tree of Heaven, otherwise known as Pittsburgh Palm or Tree from Hell (Ailanthus altissima), which is itself a beautiful but destructive invader from China. Spotted Lanternflies were unknown in the United States until 2014; now they are all over Pittsburgh. Although old Pa Pitt is inclined to say they can have as many Pittsburgh Palms as they want, these critters also cause damage to many other trees and vines. If you see one, you know what to do.
Here’s more about the Spotted Lanternfly from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
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A New Server and Some Daylilies in the Rain
Old Pa Pitt has finally migrated away from WordPress.com to a server that places fewer restrictions on his site. (The address is still FatherPitt.com; all your links through that address should still work.) Almost all the content from the past fourteen and a half years has moved here, except (for some reason) the last two weeks’ worth of articles. Those will reappear soon. (Update: They have now been restored.) You can expect Father Pitt to be tinkering with the design of the site for a while.
Meanwhile, here are some daylilies in the rain, straight from the Olympus E-20N DSLR with no editing at all. The camera is officially old enough to buy its own alcoholic beverages this year, but it still takes pretty good pictures in glorious five-megapixel resolution.
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Drumstick Allium
Allium sphaerocephalon, a popular garden flower now in full bloom.
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Daylilies
