This is big news because they are not just any caterpillars, they are monarch butterfly caterpillars. Many assume if they have butterfly bushes and lots of flowers, it will draw and sustain monarch butterflies. Not necessarily true.  If the beautiful butterflies don’t have an acceptable plant on which to lay their eggs, there will be no monarch butterflies. Period. Butterflies must … [Read more...]

(An Alabama Bass) The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries – or whatever they call themselves these days – has issued a de facto APB on a species called Alabama bass. The reason? This unique strain of black bass can potentially destroy the largemouth bass fishery in Virginia – and this is big business. Largemouth and smallmouth bass account for millions of dollars in economic terms … [Read more...]

  It was Friday night – often our steak night. TGIF. Time to celebrate. Besides, we love steak. I stopped by Food Lion and they had a couple New York strip steaks that looked good - nice and marbled. Then I saw a strange package.  It  was Spring Crossing Cattle Co. They were grass-fed rib-eyes, a little higher in price than the others, and not nearly so marbled. But I had eaten a … [Read more...]

  It really bothers me to see all these signs saying their yards have been mosquito-proofed  with poison. I seems to me that if you poison mosquitos, you poison beneficial insects that birds feed on. I don’t want more poison in my yard, I want less, but I absolutely don’t want mosquitos biting my grandchildren or backyard guests. Last year, Nancy bought a couple mosquito plants, potted … [Read more...]

  Wildlife across our state is busy this time of year. Baby birds are hatching, butterflies are emerging from cocoons and mother deer are conceiving fawns – which is often a problem when nosy humans get involved. People see what they think are abandoned fawns, take them home and often call the Wildlife Center or Animal Control people for help. In almost every instance, the fawns are not … [Read more...]

  Hidden Valley WMA in Washington County will be closed from May 15 to June 1. The closure is needed to allow time for aerial spraying for gypsy moths. Gypsy moth caterpillars feed on tree leaves and can completely defoliate large areas of forest, which often leads to death of the affected trees. To keep the WMA forest alive and healthy, contractors will spray an insecticide from a … [Read more...]

  There is a real homeless problem in Verona, near Staunton. Thousands and thousands of homeless are swarming in the edge of the woods behind the 12thhole tee box at Ingleside Golf Course. No, not human homeless, but homeless honeybees. They are looking for a new home. My golfing amigos and I were playing Ingleside this Tuesday, when we saw the swarm of bees. I had just heard about … [Read more...]

  If you love butterflies, monarch butterflies, get some milkweed seed and start it indoors right now. If you don’t have the opportunity to start the seeds, wait a few more weeks and buy plants from most any nursery. Butterflies have plenty of sources for nectar, but without milkweed, monarch butterflies cannot survive. They need that type of plant on which to lay their eggs and … [Read more...]

  The Magnificent Redbud   If you have been out and about recently, you’ve no doubt seen the magnificent redbuds, now in full bloom. Certainly no tree or bush in Virginia can exceed this beauty.  But it’s not really clear if a redbud is a tree or a bush – it’s sort of a cross between the two. And where it got its name – who knows? It’s not red at all, it’s just … [Read more...]

  (Creasy greens growing wild beside the road)   Last summer as I was driving north on Rt. 29, I saw a flowering weed beside the road so stunning that I went back to see it again. To the best of my weed-identification abilities, it was a butterfly weed – adorned in the most incredible orange I have ever seen. Since that time, I have been on the lookout for beautiful weeds and … [Read more...]