Corpse flower in bloom at Milwaukee's Mitchell Park Domes

From JSOnline:

Horticulturist discusses the corpse flower blooming at the Milwaukee Domes for the next 48 hours.

Donnisa Edmonds

From: https://www.jsonline.com/videos/news/local/milwaukee/2026/06/27/corpse-flower-at-milwaukee-domes-in-bloom-for-48-hours/90722871007/

Why Mowing Your Lawn May Be a Thing of the Past

Hungry bumble bees make plants flower early by cutting holes in their leaves

A hungry bumble bee cuts a hole in a leaf, stimulating the plant to flower early.

 

HANNIER PULIDO/DE MORAES AND MESCHER LABORATORIES

When bumble bee queens emerge from hibernation, they need to gather pollen and nectar to start their new colonies. If they wake up too soon, there may not be enough flowers in bloom. Now, researchers have discovered the bees have a way to order some fast food: They nibble holes in leaves, spurring plants to blossom weeks ahead of schedule. Many questions remain about the details of this strategy and how it evolved.

“It’s certainly surprising,” says Lars Chittka, a behavioral ecologist at the Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved. “We’re only at the beginning of exploring this phenomenon.”

Researchers at ETH Zürich chanced upon the discovery when they noticed curious bite marks on leaves while studying how bees respond to plant odors. They had added bumble bees to a research greenhouse and observed them cutting holes in the shape of half-moons. What was going on? At first, the researchers thought the insects might be feeding on fluid from the leaves, but the bees didn’t stay long enough to get much. Nor did they appear to be taking any part of the leaves back to their colonies.

A key observation—that bumble bees from colonies with less food were more avidly damaging the leaves—suggested another goal. The researchers wondered whether the damage triggered the plants to flower sooner, providing pollen to the hungry pollinators. After all, some plants speed up their flowering when they are stressed by disease or drought because these threats provide an incentive to reproduce sooner. But no one had ever shown that a pollinator can stimulate flowering. “I thought it was a long shot,” recalls Mark Mescher, an evolutionary biologist at ETH Zürich who co-led the research.

The researchers set up a greenhouse experiment with black mustard (Brassica nigra), a crop they had been studying. Ten plants were put in mesh bags with bumble bees that hadn’t eaten any pollen for 3 days; they proceeded to nibble five to 10 holes in each plant. On average, those plants flowered after 17 days; undamaged plants that had not been exposed to bumble bees took an average of 33 days, the researchers report today in Science. In a similar experiment, tomato plants sped up their flowering by 30 days. “The magnitude of the effects is huge,” Mescher says.

Read more: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/hungry-bumblebees-make-plants-flower-early-cutting-holes-their-leaves

Wildflowers

This past Saturday Drew and I went to Buena Vista in Bancroft Wi.. It is a very long drive to go there but it is always worth going there. When we got there we had to wait out a ran storm for about a half hour before we could really drive around to look for birds and wildflowers. We have bird pictures and wildflower pictures. So today I am going to post the wildflower pictures and then tomorrow I will post the bird pictures.

                              This is a picture of Cow Tech they are a little wet from the rain.

                                                 This is a picture of Glade St. John Wort.

                                                 This is  a picture of Orange Milk Weed.

                                                    This is a picture of a Musk Thistle.

                                                      This is a picture of a Spiderwort.

                                                 This is a picture of a White Champion.

Wildflowers!

I am so sorry I have not posted any of my wildflower pictures. I have been busy with moving kids and getting all the pictures into the right folders. This is a process to get through with all the pictures we have on the computer.

The wildflower picture I am going to post today are all from Chiwaukee Wildlife Prairie in Pleasant Prairie Wi.. Drew and I went down there this past Friday to get pictures of birds and wildflowers. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

                                                 This is a picture of a Black Eyed Susan.

                                                 This is a picture of a Crested Dwarf Iris. 

                                                     This is a picture of a Wood Rose.

                                                      This is a picture of a Day Lily.

                                               This is a picture of a Brown Eyed Susan.

                                                    This is a picture of a Dames Rocket.

                                                       This is a picture of Milk Weed.

Wildflowers!

I know I haven't posted wildflowers lately I was busy with Drew's surprise party and I was getting ready for the Grandkids coming down here. Here are some pictures I hope everyone likes them.

This is a picture of a Brown Eyed Susan the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a picture of a Multi-Flora Rose the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a picture of a Evening Primerose the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a picture of a Crested Dwarf Iris the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a picture of a Carolina Fanwort Water Lily the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a picture of Orange Hawkweed the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

I hope everyone is going to enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoy going out to take the pictures to share.

Wildflowers!

I know I haven't posted on here in a long time I am so sorry to everyone. I was busy with taking Drew to do some birding during migration time and then the holiday sneaks up on me. I so have some new wildflowers to share with everyone.

This is a picture of a Downy Yellow Violet this picture was taken at Nicholson Wildlife Refuge in Caledonia Wi..

         This is a picture of a Grey Beardtongue this picture was taken at Sanders Park in Racine Wi.

This is a picture of Lily of the Valleys this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi. I could not believe I found these there.

    This is a picture of a Round Leaf Yellow Violet the picture was taken at Colonial Park in Racine Wi.

        This is a picture of a Spotted Wakerobin the picture was taken at Sanders Park in Racine Wi.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures as much as I enjoy going out and taking the pictures. 

Wildflowers!

Yes it is coming to that time of year for me again I will be out there taking pictures of the wildflowers. I have some pictures of the wildflowers that have been coming up already, and I am going to share them with everyone.

            This is a picture of Canada Anemone the picture was taken at Colonial Park in Racine Wi.

               This is a picture of a Fawnlily the picture was taken at Colonial Park in Racine Wi.

          This is a picture of Virginia Bluebells the picture was taken at Colonial Park in Racine Wi.

This is a picture of Hoverfly Slender Blue-Eyed Grass the picture was taken at Whitnall Park in Franklin Wi.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. and yes, there will be more to come with the wildflowers starting to bloom.

Flowers from over the years!

I was thinking of something to post for some time now and I decided to go through all of my wildflower pictures and pick out some of the better pictures to post from over the years. I will be starting with when I first started taking the pictures back in 2012. Yes I have been taking the pictures to share with everyone for four years and I can't even believe this.

This is a picture of the very first Water Lily I had ever taken and the picture was taken at Tichigan Wildlife Refuge in Tichigan Wi  on 6-3-2012. I have seen the flower before but never took a picture of it until this day.

This is the first time I ever seen or heard of this flower it is the Yellow Monkey Flower this picture was taken at Meyers Park in Racine Wi on 8-17-2013.

This is a picture of a Wild Rose this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi 6-28-2013. I remember this day it was raining and yes we are crazy enough to go out in the rain to get some pictures.

This is a picture of a Perennial Pea this picture was taken on Shelter Valley Rd in Forest County 7-4-2014. This is one of the times we went up north and took one day to go out driving around looking for pictures of birds and flowers.

This is a picture of a Crested Dwarf Iris this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi 6-17-2015. This is one of my favorite flowers to go looking for.

This is a picture of a Crinum Timeless Lily this picture was taken at Whitewater University College in Whitewater Wi 7-6-2015. I was there my daughter had an appointment so her step sister and I went driving around the campus looking at the flowers to get some pictures. her step sister and I had a blast just driving around the campus and we almost go ourselves lost. Why sit in the parking lot bored when you can drive around.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures I just thought this may brighten up you day and hope that Spring comes soon. 

Wildflowers Pt 3!

I am sorry I have not posted anymore wildflowers. I have been busy with having the grandkids here for a week and doctor appointments also I went to a concert with my two older kids that was my Mother's Day present from my kids. This has been one crazy summer for me this year. I hope everyone is enjoying there summer and not going out when it is to hot outside.

The good thing is Drew and I have been able to get out and get some pictures to share with everyone and we have also gotten pictures of some new flowers for us. I am going to post some of the new ones this time. Here are the pictures-

      This is a picture of a Tiger Lily this picture was taken at Navarino Wildlife Refuge in Navarino Wi.

This is a picture of a Blue Vervain this picture was taken at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Lomira Wi.

This is a picture of a Compass Flower this picture was taken at Navarino Wildlife Refuge in Navarino Wi.

This is a picture of Orange Milkweed this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

     This is a picture of a Yellow Water Lily just starting to bloom this picture was taken in Pickeral Wi.

                 This is a picture of Canada Thistle this picture was taken at Pritcher Park in Racine Wi.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures as much as I enjoy going out and taking the pictures to she with all of you. I hope you have a great day.

Wildflowers Pt 2!

Sorry I haven't been posting my wildflowers lately I have been busy with all my doctor appointments. I am going to try to get most of them posted to share with all of you. Here are some more of the wildflowers.

This is a Crested Dwarf Iris the picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi..

  This is a Musk Thistle this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi..

              This is a Eastern Shooting Star this picture was taken at Colonial Park in Racine Wi..

                  This is a Virginia Spiderwort this picture was taken at Cliffside Park in Racine Wi..

This is a Sulfur Cinqefoil this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

This is a Water Lily this picture was taken at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Brighton Wi.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and there are a lot more to come. Have a nice day!

WIldflowers Pt 1!

Yes it is that time of the year again with all the wildflowers coming up so we all know it is Spring time. We have been going out driving around this past week since Drew has had a week of vacation. It will be the same time next week since it is migration time for the birds to all come back up this way and with the wildflowers starting to bloom.

We did find a new flower this year already and I hope everyone will likes them and some that we have found in the past. Here are the flowers we have found so far!

                This is a new one for me it is Siberian Squill this was at the Lighthouse in Caledonia Wi.

         This is a Piper's Anemone this was at Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Lomira Wi.

                               This is a Marsh Marigold this was at Bender Park Oak Creek Wi.

                                     This is a Wood Violet this was at Shoop Park Caledonia Wi.

This is a Sweet Trillium this was at Colonial Park Racine Wi. This is the Trillium just starting to bloom.

                         This is the Yellow Daffodil this was at Grant Park South Milwaukee Wi. 

I just hope that everyone enjoys the pictures as much as I enjoy going out and getting the pictures to share with everyone. There will be more to come as I get more pictures.