August 24, 2008

I stalk the insects.

The Indian Spring hollyhock allium Angelica gigas lures all the most vicious insects — including the dreaded European paper wasp — and drives them wild with desire:

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Enought, dammit!

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Meanwhile, the gentle fireflies, flustered by daylight, imagine they see the love light in the blazing yellow petals. There were fireflies — and only fireflies — all over the black-eyed susans:

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And what are these huge all-black wasps? Sphex pensylvanicus - the Great Black Wasp? They were into hugging these bulbous yellow flowers:

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I kept getting closer, trying to get my camera into the right position, and then I suddenly became aware of myself and didn't want to photograph gigantic wasps anymore.

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34 comments:

Meade said...

Great buzz!

Automatic_Wing said...

Ugh...hate those $#%^*! Japanese Beetles!

Meade said...

Here, Maguro, I feed them to a toad.

Ann Althouse said...

And they are $#%^* in that picture. Here is a closeup of the sordid affair.

And in this picture, a Japanese beetle appears to be going after the eye of a bee.

Ann Althouse said...

That toad video is fascinating. I watched it 3 times. The speed is amusing, as is the subtly satisfied look on the toad's face. He's not that pleased. But he's pleased. You can tell.

Freeman Hunt said...

I love macro shots of insects and plants. These are great!

Meade said...

Yes, Japanese Beetles are $#%^ers. They devour roses.

No roses, no hortporn. No hortporn, and all I'm left with is my monochromatic imagination.

That toad has become so addicted to Japanese Beetles, he waits at the greenhouse door every morning for me to bring him his fix. Every day he leaves a toad turd the size of your pinky finger with recognizable Japanese Beetle exoskeletons in them. I feed the turds to the roses and the cycle is oh so satisfyingly complete.

What Freeman said. Multi gold medal winners.

chuck b. said...

That's really a hollyhock?

TitusIAmAPisces said...

I would like to lure you with my lollilock Ms. Althouse.


Poppies, Poppies...come to Titus. You will enjoy. You will love. You will be entranced. You will suckle. You will demand more.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

I am going to take a little walk around the block soon to see what I am worth.

I know, same old tired Titus crap, but girls, we all have an expiration date and the clock is ticking. Tick Tock. Not many years left before I need to retire my wares to some exotic island, where unfortunately, I am going to have to pay for it.

Ann Althouse said...

"That's really a hollyhock?"

Yes, I photographed the sign. It's alcea rosea, the Indian Spring hollyhock.

Ann Althouse said...

But maybe the sign was wrong!

Looking on the internet, I'm seeing pictures that look quite different.

(And I didn't think it looked like a hollyhock either.)

TitusIAmAPisces said...

I do fear, though, when I can't rely on my looks for hog.

What am I going to do?

Generally, I don't want to talk to someone else. Too much work and too much pretending to be interested.

Also, I don't know how I will do with "vanilla sex". I.E. ok sex we begin. Kiss, oral, fuck, goodnight, I love you. How depressing.

How do the rest of you deal with that? No excitement, nothing new, nothing exotic, nothing dangerous, just nothing. Oh, I know, very fulfilling, you "love each other", because it is with the same person over and over and over and over again.
I am going to hang myself if I think of doing it with the same person over and over again. I want fresh, now, this season, ready for the runway.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

BTW-I am the one who will be stalked tonight.

I stalk no one.

I have a reputation that I need to keep entact...for now.

The day that I am stalking someone is the day that I think I retire....with the rare clumbers of course. They are great cuddlers by the way.

chuck b. said...

It's an allium (e.g., onion).

Unfortunately, signs in gardens (your university's botanical garden?) are frequently misplaced or too near other plants to be unambiguous.

Alliums are popular with wasps.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

By the way there
was some Carribean Festival today right outside my window. Lots of hoochie mamas and music I couldn't understand and guys wearing bandanas over their faces. It had an element of hotness to it but I just couldn't get into it. I saw way too many Carribean mamas ass cracks. Also, the italian delivery guy couldn't get to my fabulous loft and as a result my chicken and tortellini was cold.

Fucking Carribeans.

Lastly, I found, from the real estate broker in my building, that my new neighbor from Illinois, paid for his unit in full. 1.6 million, no monthly payment. He is getting his Phd. I hate him already. But his name is Tobias and he is hot so that makes up for some of that shit.

chuck b. said...

And, incidentally, onion juice or bruised onion is an old home remedy for wasp stings.

DaLawGiver said...

Nice bug photos. And the toad thing was cool too.

I hate wasps. I was stung by several when I was young, man did it hurt, much worse than a bee sting.

We used to catch honey bees with our bare hands. We would snatch them off a flower, shake them up real good in our cupped hands and put them in jars. Hardly ever got stung and never on the hand.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

I met Tobias on the elevator and he goes by "Toby". I would go by Tobias if my name is Tobias, not Toby.

Toby sound so midwest.

Toby is very excited about living in the city. I was like yea, yea, what do you have going on in that package. And do you like to bottom?

TitusIAmAPisces said...

OK, it is showtime fellow repubicans and lovers of the bush doctrine.

the rare clumbers already sense that i am leaving them and they are ppissed.

chuck b. said...

No, wait, maybe it's Angelica gigas?

vbspurs said...

Yeah right. If these are WASPs, where are the Bloody Marys?

Ann Althouse said...

Oh, damn! I just corrected it to allium!

Chip Ahoy said...

Pish tosh. Nothing is as threatening an insect as a predator drone.

blogging cockroach said...

ugh
i hate wasps and beetles
you may think sting when you see a wasp
to me they're like an a-10

and don't even mention beetles
they walk in like the mafia
i mean they're practically carrying little violin cases
'all right youse guys here's th' deal
we get behind th' pantry wit da spilled flour
and youse gets under th' sink with th' raid'
geez what's an honest insect to do....
but it sounds like meade has j edgar toad on the case

anyway nice pretty flours
i like the fact some are round like meatballs
you should come over and get a shot behind the stove
you could take a picture of little ol' me
on one of mom's spilled meatballs yum
what an attractive picture to increase your traffic

you're welcome

Cedarford said...

Alliums draw in some wasps I see nowhere else or on any flower.

Wasps can be nasty, especially the yellow jackets that can pour out of hidden underground nests and really do a number on someone.
But without wasps, we'd be overrun with caterpillers, grasshoppers, aphids, and even more damn Japanese beetles.

In our area, the garden problem is not bugs but an infestation of deer. Eating everything, and do-gooders and anti-hunting activists have blocked culling the herd with their near-unlimited legal resources.
Gardens are now limited to those with 7-foot fences or mean dogs that dream, wolflike, of fresh venison.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

Republican convention-Beach Boys and Styx.
Democrat Convention-Rage Against the Machine and Rufus Wainwright.

Does that not capture the entire presidential election in one swoopy de doopy.

Totally MAC vs IBM.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

I did a 21 year old from the Domnican Republican tonight.

He thought I was either straight or married.

It must of been the BoSox baseball cap.

I have to tell you that it is a major sense of accomplishment to still snag a 21 year old.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

He asked to see my fabulous loft. I thought about it for 5 minutes and then said.....no.

The rare clumbers would of been pissed.

TitusIAmAPisces said...

He works in Facilities Management. How hot is that?

Meade said...

-chuck b. said...
No, wait, maybe it's Angelica gigas?

yep.

-What I want to know is, what is that interesting yellow flower with the black wasp on it?

-Good comment, Cedarford. The "bambi lovers" are clueless to the overpopulation and suffering they have caused.
Q.: Annually in America, which species of wild animal causes more human deaths than any other?
A.: Deer

-And here I thought I smoked too much blogging la cucaracha! Que primo!!

blogging cockroach said...

oops
i spelled 'flower' wrong
i typed 'flour' instead
classic freudian slip i might make
a bee would probably make the opposite goof
assuming she would have occasion to write about baking

Unknown said...

FYI -- Those were soldier beetles on the black-eyed susans and yes, my degree is in biology with emphasis on entomology. That one looks to be a Chauliognathus.

Anonymous said...

Ann, I thought you said you don't watch porn.