May

Non-Garden Plants

Emerging Annuals


Flowering


Fruiting

Oriental false hawksbeard (Youngia japonica)
Yellow Woodsorrel (Oxalis stricta)
Kusamaki (Podocarpus macrophyllus)
Nandina (Nandina domestica)
Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Texas Lantana (Lantana urticoides)
Prostrate Pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides)
Whitemouth Dayflower (Commelina erecta)
Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

Garden Plants

Annuals Emerging 


Annuals True Leaf


Flowering

Fruiting


Mature

Bulb Onion (Allium cepa)
Garlic (Allium sativum)
Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)
Leek (Allium ampeloprasum)
Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus)
Mustard Greens (Brassica juncea)
Acorn Squash (Cucurbita pepo var. turbinata)
Fava Bean (Vicia faba)

Insects

Aphids and their ant controllers colonize plants, such as bean plants and sunflowers.

Notes


5/1/2014 - The ‘Kentucky Wonder’ pole beans are producing their first little bean pods.
5/1/2014 - I saw daylily blooming by the back patio.
5/1/2014 - The first little cucumber appeared.
5/1/2014 - I photographed a little brown moth on the clothesline in the bean arbor.
5/1/2014 - I photographed a very hairy moth with shiny rug-like wings on the breezeway gate
5/2/2014 - The Chinese privet is blooming.
5/2/2014 - I spotted a sweet basil seedling on the top of the hügelkultur mound.
5/2/2014 - The nandina has flower buds.
5/2/2014 - I saw a small brown moth with black speckles in the kitchen.
5/3/2014 - I photographed a large adult leaf-footed bug on the rain gutter above the compost piles.
5/5/2014 - I spotted what seems to be another Eustala species of spider.
5/5/2014 - The beans on the west side of the arbor finally began to flower.
5/6/2014 - I discovered one, or maybe even two, new species of Eustala spider.
5/6/2014 - I found some galls on a young hackberry against the back fence.
5/6/2014 - I photographed and identified drosophila melanogaster in my kitchen compost pail.
5/6/2014 - I photographed a Juniper tip moth on my kitchen window
5/6/2016 - The okra, Purple Hull beans, and blackeye peas, already emerged.
5/6/2016 - The coriander in the herb garden is leaning over on top of other herbs and has a lot of seeds.
5/6/2016 - The oregano has been blooming for a couple weeks.
5/6/2016 - The day lilies are blooming.
5/6/2016 - The milkweed by the west fence has grown new leaves after the monarch caterpillar ate all of them and some of the stem in late March.
5/6/2016 - The lantana in the northeast corner of the backyard is blooming.
5/6/2016 - The shrimp plant is blooming profusely.
5/6/2016 - A sunflower plant is now about two feet high near the northeast corner. It has not started blooming yet.
5/6/2016 - This year’s 2nd crop of beans is growing well. I sowed new seeds in gaps where the previous seeds didn’t emerge.
5/6/2016 - The sweet potato start is starting to produce new leaves.
5/6/2016 - The corn doesn’t seem to be growing much at all. It must have been in shade too long before I had the water oak removed.
5/6/2016 - The tomatoes are blooming a little, and only one of the three remaining plants has a small tomato. I figure the shade from the water oak stunted them.
5/6/2016 - The okra I sowed near the tomatoes is growing well.
5/6/2016 - The cowpeas I planted between the cucumber mounds are growing well.
5/6/2016 - The “moon and stars” watermelon plant in the S bed seems to be growing a bit faster now, but it is still quite small.

5/6/2016 - The basil in the I bed is leafing nicely now after a rough start.
5/8/2014 - I photographed a black soldier fly laying eggs in an orange peel on my compost pile.
5/8/2014 - I photographed a green bottle fly on what appears to be possum or raccoon feces in the northwest corner of the backyard.
5/10/2014 - The white sweet clover (Melilotus albus) is forming an inflorescence.
5/10/2014 - The wild lettuce (?) in my herb garden has gone to seed.
5/10/2014 - The sweet basil is flowering.
5/10/2014 - My tomato plants are producing more young fruit.
5/10/2014 - A flower has begun to form on one of the squash plants.
5/10/2014 - I first noticed crickets singing at night.
5/10/2014 - I saw erect dayflower flowering by my back patio.
5/11/2014 - One of the squash plants had one flower, with small ants inside.
5/11/2014 - More erect dayflower was flowering in the yard.
5/11/2014 - The Texas lantana has produced some berries.
5/11/2014 - I saw small blue flower buds on the butterfly bush.
5/11/2014 - I saw a pair of lovebugs flying in the back yard.
5/12/2014 - I found a young orb weaver spider in a small web in my kitchen by the window. It was orange, but I’m sure it would change as it grew.
5/15/2014 - I photographed a hairy brown Acrolophus moth on the arbor.
5/16/2014 - A robin landed on the ground nearby and hopped around the area. 
5/18/2014 - I photographed a silver and black muscidae fly.
5/18/2014 - I photographed a house fly indoors.
5/18/2014 - Noticed that the Boston ivy had spread over more of the star jasmine on the back fence.
5/18/2014 - Saw more black soldier flies.
5/18/2014 - Saw a robin by the water oak.
5/18/2014 - Saw more ants in the squash flowers, the black-eyed peas, and the mound in general.
5/18/2014 - Some of the nandina flowers have opened.
5/20/2014 - Photographed a beetle that resembles a lady beetle but whose elytra are helmet shaped.
5/20/2014 - Turk’s Cap and white autumn sage are flowering.
5/23/2014 - I photographed the potter wasp Euodynerus bidens on my collards.
5/23/2014 - Erect Dayflower is flowering more and becoming more prominent around the back yard.
5/23/2014 - I found black soldier fly larvae squirming in my compost pile.
5/24/2014 - The oregano is flowering.
5/24/2014 - The white sweet clover is still in full bloom.
5/24/2014 - The American nightshade berries have ripened.
5/24/2014 - The spinach and basil on the mound are starting to grow more quickly.
5/24/2014 - The cantaloupe has started flowering. There are two flowers overall.
5/24/2014 - I noticed small beet roots on my beet plants.
5/24/2014 - I found that my black-eyed peas are infested with cowpea aphids. Ants, which I have not yet identified, are tending to them, and there are also ants and tiny white critters crawling around, which might just be very young cowpea aphids or a kind of wooly aphid. The ants are getting the “honey” from the aphids.
5/24/2014 - I photographed a hoverfly, Dioprosopa clavata, laying eggs among the aphids.  Its larvae eat them. The ants will likely do their best to repel the hoverflies and other predators. It will be interesting to see who wins.
5/24/2014 - The ‘California Wonder’ bell pepper plant has a few nascent fruits.
5/24/2014 - Some violet wood sorrel is still blooming.
5/24/2014 - The broccoli plant, which I cut back a while ago, is producing new leaves and a few flowers.
5/24/2014 - The strawberry plants are growing faster now, but the birds get to the strawberries before I can.
5/24/2014 - I photographed a large ant in the birdbath near the house. It had a black head and abdomen, but its thorax and legs were orange.
I photographed a plant with small oval opposite leaves growing out of a crack in my driveway. I feel like I have already ID’ed it once but can’t remember what it is.
5/25/2014 - Some crows were briefly in the area. It was the first time for me to see crows here.
5/25/2014 - In the morning, noisy house sparrows gathered on one of my crepe myrtles.
5/25/2014 - I discovered a Dioprosopa clavata hoverfly larva on the black-eyed pea plant, with some ants harassing it (or so it seemed). I was fortunate that BugGuide had a picture of the Dioprosopa clavata larva, so I am confident that’s what it is.
5/25/2014 - Downy mildew is growing on the lower leaves of my eastern cucumber plants.
5/27/2014 - A fifteen-foot branch feel from the water oak.
5/27/2014 - I found a partially eaten green tomato near the east fence.
5/28/2014 - Detritus from the standing water formed distinct patches by the east side of the house.
5/28/2014 - Papaya leaves emerged near the back fence.
5/28/2014 - An unidentified small tree-like plant (which I later identified as a kind of aster) began rising above the other plants in the southwest corner of the yard.
5/28/2014 - The American nightshade had berries.
5/28/2014 - Morning glory was climbing on other plants in the southwest corner of the yard.
5/28/2014 - A green tomato was on the arbor.
5/28/2014 - The bean plant on the arbor was flowering.
5/29/2014 - Carolina Geranium was flowering.
5/29/2014 - I found a dead grey fledgling bird in the grass.
5/29/2014 - Light rain in the afternoon, following at least 10 days without rain. The forecast is for rain every day this week.
5/29/2014 - When I went jogging, I saw a bird that looked like a red-eyed vireo fledgling.
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