Bouncing Bet
or Soapwort
Saponaria officinalis
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This European plant has been here since
the 1600's and is considered a
naturalized species. The
summertime flowers are phlox-like and
not fragrant. The only insect that
really likes to feed on Bouncing Bet are
hawk moths, which can be observed near
dusk, with their long proboscis, feeding
mouth parts, long enough to feed deep
into the nectar tube. If you crush
any/all of the plant parts in your hand
and mix with water, you can produce
foamy, slippery, suds, hence the name
soapwort. I found this plant along
a sunny section of bottomland.
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Purple Loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria |
Although not very problematic in
Maryland, this alien plant can
dominate and take-over wetlands.
It grows 4 to 10-feet tall and
flowers much of the summer. I
found this plant growing in a sunny
wetland meadow along with cattail,
soft rush and rice-cut grass.
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Walking in a section of stream I
found several bluegill beds.
The bluegill have paired up for a
second-round of attempting to lay
eggs. Each time I approached a
nest I was able to push off a
smaller male and much larger female
that would hightail it to underwater
roots, bank undercuts and large
woody debris. The bluegill fan
the substrate with their tails and
crate a clean, gravel crater to lay
eggs into. |
Butterfly Weed
Asclepias tuberosa |
This is the best native,
orange-colored flower that I've
seen. Butterfly Weed produces
large amounts of nectar and really
brings in the butterflies. The
plant grows best in dry, sunny,
sandy conditions and is drought
tolerant. It has a deep
tap-root and takes 2 to 3-years to
become established from seed.
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Meadow Beauty
Rhexia virginica
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This is a native southern
species, found along damp, sunny
shorelines of freshwater.
Deer loves to eat the plant, so
some of my best finds have been
from a boat looking back into
the shorelines where deer may
not frequent. |
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Mark and I got in some sunset fishing
from between 7:00 and 9:00 PM.
Fishing was hard and the bite was off.
Maybe because of the beautiful,
low-humidity cool front? Anyway, I
was able to take this bass with a
5-inch, Senko, watermelon-colored worm. |
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Mark got this fish with a Yamamoto
green-pumpkin Kreature bait.
Happy birthday Mark! He's now
15 and will have a 'learners'
driving permit in several months. |
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Once it got dark we switched to
topwater lures, a Pop-R and Cavitron
buzzbait, with both baits catching
fish. |
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Mark even got a bluegill surface
hit with a Pop-R.
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