Common Nature

My mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.

_{Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.}

( Photos beneath the cut. )

I love spring, because garden centers open, and that means pollinators. I saw a butterfly going about in a greenhouse and finally tracked it down—taking a picture every couple of seconds, so I looked like a creep, I'm sure—on a hanging planter. I believe it's an American lady (Vanessa virginiensis), judging by the two eyespots and bit of pink.

( Photos beneath the cut. )

My brother was cleaning cars last night and came in the show me something. I immediately assumed a weird big, and I was right!

At first, I didn't see it, but a big ol' green big, about 7cm, was clinging to the center console of our mom's car. My big brother wanted me to remove it. No idea what he'd've done himself, but I got her out, and she didn't want to leave my arm. 💀

I'm glad to know we have these critters, though, because it could maybe explain some noises I've heard outside. I didn't expect her to be so big, though! I'm relatively okay with six legs and less, but the size of this bug had the hairs on my arm standing up. (She also wanted to play parrot on my shoulder. I'm not yet so willing.)

But my brother and I agree that he'll take care of spiders and stingy, stripey things; I'll catch other six-legs-and-less ones.

Fun fact: Katydids are believed to being good fortune! (Not necessarily financial.)

Although I am very allergic to bug bites, I will follow neat bugs to try and get decent photos on my phone. Right now, the oregano is in bloom, attracting lots of pollinators (and unsavory types such as hornets and wasps).