Learning & Sharing Their Names

☀️🤍🌼💚

Hello everyone! I know I haven’t posted in a while. I want to thank all of you who have stuck around. I truly appreciate it. 💚💚

Life got really busy and stressful for a few months. I’ve been trying to find a good work-life balance and getting back into a good headspace without much success but today’s weather has truly lifted my spirits 😊

I was looking at these feather reeds, just admiring them under the late-noon’s autumnal sunlight when I spotted a ladybug (to my surprise!) hidden amongst the spike’s inflorescence. I’ve been seeing them everywhere these past few days, from the car’s windshield, to my kitchen, and to my bedroom window 🤭

With the weather getting cooler, it’s only normal to see so many ladybirds, right? Surely this isn’t a sign of anything? I’m curious to know though, what do ladybirds symbolize in your culture? Comment below👇

🐞

Wordy Wednesdays #20
Word of the Day: IUCN Red List

Critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity.
- IUCN 2020

Sunday Shares #42
Today’s Being of the Day: Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Scientific name: Bombus impatiens
Common name: Common eastern bumble bee

A species of Bumble bee
Genus: Bombus
Family: Apidae
Order: Hymenoptera
Class: Insecta
Phylum: Arthropoda
Kingdom: Animalia
Domain: Eukaryota

Although most pollinator species are under threat, the Eastern bumble bee is categorized as least concern by the IUCN. The Eastern Bumble Bee is a pollinator of tomatoes, blueberries, cucumbers and numerous other fruit and vegetable crops vital to humans and other species that require buzz pollination.

The fur all over their body collects and traps pollen, carrying it from one bloom to another as they drink nectar. The abdomen, head and legs have black hair. The thorax has yellow hair. Near the waist, a yellow hair band is also seen and they have a shiny black bald spot on their heads. Pollen grains are stored in pollen baskets on their legs. Once full, the bee must return the pollen to the colony where it is fed to the larvae.

Their range expands the whole North American East coast. Introduced to the western coast and other countries so as to help pollinate crops, its range is expanding. The invasiveness and threat level to other species in those countries is still under study.

One of the first pollinators to appear in the spring and one of the last to die in the fall, the Eastern bumble bee is hardier then other bumble bees. All but the new queens die in the fall. They hibernate in winter and search for a new nest site in the spring. They most often nest underground in woodland and fields. One nest can have 300-500 individuals. First to develop in the new nest are worker bees, then males and last new queens.

Sources:
Seek App
IUCNredlist.org
Nwf.org
InsectIdentification.org
Bumble Bee GuideEast 2011, fs.fed.us

@ Montreal, Quebec

Wordy Wednesdays #19
Word of the Day: Nonvascular Plant

A simple, low-growing, non-flowering plant (such as moss or liverwort) that lacks specialized conducting channels for transporting water and nutrients and in which the photosynthetic gametophyte is the dominant stage of the life cycle.
- Merriam-Webster

Sunday Shares #41
Today’s Being of the Day: Showy Lily

Scientific name: Lilium speciosum
Common name: Showy lily a.k.a. Japanese Lily, Brilliant lily

A species of True Lilies
Genus: Lilium
Family: Liliaceae
Order: Liliales
Class: Liliopsida
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Kingdom: Plantae
Domain: Eukaryota

This oriental hybrid lily is a specific variety native to southern Japan and southern China. Characterized by the rich coloured, big and fragrant flowers, their long blooms last from mid to late summer, to fall at times. They usually bloom when Asiatic Lily blooms are fading.

This perennial herb is a very popular ornamental plant. Not only do florists love them but so do pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies.

There are so many different lily varieties, it was quite a challenge to identify them. After having determined they belonged to the oriental family, due to their big flowers and appearance of small bumps or hairlike structures on their petals, the variety was much easier to pinpoint. The pink Lily’s name is the ‘Star Gazer’ while the white one is known as ‘Casa Blanca’.

The yellow lilies in this post I believe are Orienpet lilies. Orienpet lilies have a much more waxy and recurved petal. I have yet been able to determine the exact cultivar. The red, orange coloured lily might either be a tiger lily, fire lily or another variety of Asiatic lily.

Sources:
PictureThis App
Seek App
Gardenia.net

@ Montreal, Quebec

Wordy Wednesdays #18
Word of the Day: Evergreen

A plant that retains green leaves throughout the year.
- OxfordLanguages

On today’s Gardening Adventures (with Labrini) - Sowing Seeds

Last week we saw how I prepared my coconut fibre pellets. This week we will see how I use them! 🙌

The first step in sowing seeds is knowing what you want to sow and how many. Not all seeds will sprout and not all seedlings will survive. That’s why I like to sow a bit more seeds so that if not all sprout or not all seedlings do survive, then at least I still have the number of seedlings I was initially going for.

Step 2 is preparing your soil and containers. (See last week’s IGTV for the explanation.)

Step 3 and Step 4 are planting your seeds. Depending on the type of plant, the seeds require different needs. Some seeds need to only be slightly covered by the soil, others a little bit more and others not at all! You don’t want to plant your seeds to deep though because then the sun rays won’t be able to reach it and then they won’t be able to germinate.

Step 5, labelling, is essential. Unless your only planting one type of seed, differentiating between different seedlings can be quite hard since they all have two small leaves. Sure, some seedlings are easier to identify then others but if one does not want to play a guessing game, labelling is surely your friend.

Step 6 is important to assure your seeds get the most amount of sun they can get in a humid/warm enclosed space. I don’t have any grow lights, so my seedlings tend to thin out and stretch. Once I transplant them into bigger containers though I’m hoping they will be much happier.

For the first few days after sowing my seeds I made sure they had enough water. Only after 4-5 days did I need to water them a bit. Once the seedlings started to grow, the transparent cover came off so as not to increase their stretching further.

Wordy Wednesdays #17
Word of the Day: Rhizome

A continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.
- OxfordLanguages

Sunday Shares #40
Today’s Being of the Day: Coltsfoot

Scientific name: Tussilago farfara
Common name: Coltsfoot a.k.a Ass’s foot, Coughwort, Bull’s foot, Son-before-father, Horse foot

A species of Tussilago
Genus: Tussilago
Family: Asteraceae
Order: Asterales
Class: Magnoliopsida
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Kingdom: Plantae
Domain: Eukaryota

Symbolism: Love, Visions

Native to Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia, this low-growing perennial herb was introduced in Canada in the 1920s. Resistant to the most commonly used pesticides, it’s range can expand, by its rhizomes and seeds, making it a problematic plant on farms if not dealt with at its first appearance.

Indigenous call this plant Son-before-father because its flowers emerge in the spring before its leaves do. Colt’s foot-shaped leaves do not reach full density until June/July.

This edible and medicinal herb is used in treating inflammation and respiratory problems such as bronchitis, asthma and whooping cough. Parts of the plant contain alkaloids that can damage the liver. Flower buds and young leaves are known to be consumed raw or cooked.

Coughwort’s yellow gold inflorescence of 2.5-3 cm resembles dandelion flowers, although quite smaller, and are commonly mistaken for it. The leaves are green, grey and silver coloured. The topside of the leaf is smooth and waxy while the underside is covered with white hairs. Leaf stems and large leaf veins are purple in colour.

Sources:
PictureThis App
Seek App
Omafra.gov.on.ca
Pfaf.org

@ Montreal, Quebec

Happy Earth Day! 🌏 🥳

April 22nd 2021 marks the 51st ! Earth Day is a day to advocate and fight for environmental and social change so that we may raise awareness about harmful activities that we humans do on a daily basis.

How do you fight for our home? What environmental issues have you learned about? What changes have you made in your life? Have you heard of low-waste lifestyle living?

Let us know in the comments below!

Wordy Wednesdays #16
Word of the Day: Shoot

A young branch or sucker springing from the main stock of a tree or other plant.
- OxfordLanguages