Coleus scutellarioides is that plant with the brightly colored leaves you see planted wherever a shady patch needs brightening up. The number and variety of cultivars will make your head spin, but here we present a manageable five from gardens in Shadyside and from Phipps Conservatory.
Father Pitt is fairly certain that the insect enjoying the pollen of this Cosmos sulphureus flower is a Pennsylvania Leatherwing (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), a common kind of soldier beetle that prefers yellowish flowers that match its own snazzy uniform. He is always delighted to be corrected, however, by someone with more entomological expertise than he has.
Zinnias are everywhere these days, and they make the world brighter. Here are a few different varieties of zinnias from here and there.
Two different kinds of fungus growing on decaying logs in Bird Park, Mount Lebanon.
A field of native flowers in Robin Hill Park, Moon Township.
Common weeds in more tropical climes, these flowers are valued here for their hot, bright colors. They resemble our common hawkweeds and were once classified in the same genus, but are now put in the genus Emilia. Sorting out the species is more than poor old Pa Pitt can handle.
Another bright Victorian favorite coming back into favor after a period of eclipse.
Father Pitt believes this is one of our Peregrine Falcons, but he is always willing to be corrected. It posed on this chimney for quite a while, running through its repertoire of avian expressions.
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix HS10.
Sunset behind a flourishing maple and through the branches of a dead tree. The dead tree is itself an interesting phenomenon: it was a Tree of Heaven, or Pittsburgh Palm, or Tree from Hell (Ailanthus altissima), apparently destroyed by an infestation of spotted lanternflies—one plague destroyed by another.
