Sex Quiz.

6-2-16 SHORT HILLS: I sat outside on a bench for a while to watch the birdhouse and catch the occupants at work. As they were last year, house wrens are in residence. Twice I saw a bird come out of the nest carrying something that might be a slug. I would be surprised if slugs crawled up that high, but maybe they were carried in with the nest building materials. Considering that they eat snails [escargot], why wouldn’t they eat a slug?

The English hollies are in bloom and smell very sugary. The trees are of different sexes. The pollinators visiting the male trees have to also hit the females to fertilize the flower that ends up as the red berry. It seems to work out for them because we have ten or twenty volunteers in the yard.

The last few days have been beautiful. I have been out there weeding and pruning.

New blooms: red spirea, Stewartia, English holly.


Holly - male or female?

Holly - the opposite sex. Can you tell which is which? Answer later.

House wren carrying a goody for the chicks.

Another treat for the kiddies.

Coming out with something? A slug or tick?

One of the new trees - Stewartia pseudocamellia. Below also.