Friday's Hunt v 4.04

It's Friday again, and that means it's time for Friday's Hunt hosted by Eden Hills.  I had hoped to write a couple of other blog posts this week, but as usual, busy was the word of the week.  So, without further ado, this week's prompts are:  Starts with D, Favourite, and Photographer's Choice.

Starts with D
My daylilies are finally blooming.  Stella d'oro, the classic golden-yellow daylily that is seen in many gardens, has been blooming for a couple of weeks, but the others have only recently started to open.  Here is a selection of some of my currently blooming daylilies.  I didn't plant any of them - they were part of the established garden when I bought this home, so I don't know any of the cultivar names. 

 

Favourite
One of my favourite things about my home is the woodlands surrounding it.  They are lovely to walk in (when the mosquitoes aren't too horrible) and they attract birds and other wildlife, which is wonderful.  They also have an abundance of wild berries, including wild blueberries and blackberries. The blueberries are just perfect right now.  I have been picking and eating them, but I should really freeze a few.  They are just so good when freshly picked from the plant.  Here is how they grow on the edges of my woodland areas.


Doesn't that make you want a fresh blueberry?

Photographer's Choice
As you can probably guess, when I have the choice, it's usually nature-themed pictures.  Today I photographed this Small Phoenix moth (Ecliptopera silaceata), which is an uncommon one for me.  I think it's beautiful.


I also took a picture of this aspen leaf that has been food for an aspen leaf miner.  The larvae burrow into the leaf and make these serpentine trails as they eat.  It is a pest species, but there are many aspen in this area and a few damaged leaves is not a big deal.  They are just part of the ecosystem.  I think the designs they make on the leaf surface as a result of their feeding are rather fascinating, and have their own beauty even though they are a result of leaf damage.

Blueberries, as Opposed to Blue Berries

As I've mentioned, I've been picking a lot of lovely, fresh blueberries from the native wild blueberry plants in our yard.  They are small, but extremely tasty.  They're a bit fiddly to pick, but it's good to be outside and enjoying the fresh air while picking them, even if my knees do complain a bit if I pick for too long!

Here's a blueberry plant in my yard.  This is Vaccinium angustifolium, which is the lowbush blueberry.

You can clearly see the small oval leaves and the branching habit of this plant.  The berries themselves are a sort of light blue.  You can brush at them with your fingers and rub some of that off, and they are darker blue underneath, but they are usually this lighter blue on the plant.  The berries form in small clusters at the tips of the branches of leaves.

Also, the blueberries have little "crowns" on their ends, sort of like pomegranate fruit.  The end has a round middle with little star shaped flaps that stick out.  You can see it really clearly on the green, unripe berry below - the little star shaped end with pink tips.

These are also blue berries.  But they are not blueberries.  Do not eat these.

These are the berries of Clintonia borealis, commonly known as the blue bead lily, and about ten other common names (oh, the confusion of common names!!).  The leaves of this plant are the long oval leaves in the picture below with the strong central vein.  They are not small leaves like those of the blueberry plant.  

Notice that these berries do not have the little star-shaped 'crown' on the end.  They are smooth and a different shade of blue, and have an indentation on the end of the berry. like the top of an apple.  Although they are in a cluster, they are on the end of a very long stem.  The edible blueberries are at the tips of little branches of leaves - not the end of a long stem like these.

Chipmunks and birds eat the berries, but they are toxic to humans.  They won't kill you, but they will probably make you sick.  So, eat blueberries, not just any old blue berries!  

Speaking of blueberries, here's a recent moth sighting.  This is Acleris curvalana, the blueberry leaftier moth.  It's a tiny little thing, only about 1 cm long.  You'll have to look closely to see one!