Sure thang TxT . . . red or yellow would be cool . . . which ever is easier for ya :) tyvm
Where are all the wasps this year?
k...red and/or yellow crown of thorns - GD - Comin' up....yvw :)
kool deal . . . btw - great pic of the bee. I've got some on my camera of a bunch of butterflies I took earlier and I just missed getting a shot of that huge wasp that Crowellli mentioned up there ^ . . . or one kinda like it. It was not a Cicada Killer but was almost as big. This one was mostly black with a few yellow bands . . . buzz'n around one of my Esperanza's blooms. Just as I aimed the camera to focus . . . he got spooked and took off not to be seen again :(
I'll keep an eye out for him . . . he reminded me (color wise) of the ol' bumble bees that I used to see tonz of but haven't seen any of those in years - kinda like Horn'd Toads.
Glad to hear that Nada has one of those around her place . . . I'm bring'n my camera to the RU in hopes of get'n her to pose with him for everyone :D
*giggle... he hides VERY well. I just see him sunning on the walkway every once in a while but the second he sees me he runs!
lol Nada, you're one lucky lady to actually see a horny toad hangin' out at your house.....I'd give anything to see one again.. :( The last one that I saw was a newborn still wet out of the shell...that I found out at my Dad's hunting lease when we were looking for petrified palm rocks....hmm....about 7 years ago...Sure hated to send him on his way
I have some huge bumblebees hanging around my indigo spires, GD....the big black fellers and the ones with blonde fuzz, lol. Haven't seen the black/yellow ones in quite a while.. I see the bumblers and hummers chasing each other across the yard all the time....esp. around the purple vitex...lol
well, see,,, I make sure and kill all the fire ants but NEVER kill the big red ants cuz that's his food. I have a hill beside my house that has (last time I looked) about 4 red ant mounds. It is called supply and demand... he has something to eat.. he stays around. At least that is what I figure.
The only red ants I kill is when they meander into my house... no bugs allowed in the house... outsides ok.. but I told all the bugs that they were welcome outside but if they got ON me or in the house they were dead... no if ands or buts! *giggle
Here's a photo that I just took of one my bumblers enjoying the vitex....Phew, I need some tea...its HOT out there..! :o
One more...same bumblebee... :)
lol Nada . . . I guess those are good enough terms ;)
Great pics TxT . . . I bet our neighbors think we're looney when they see us out there take'n pics of frogs and bugs and such :))
lol..I can well imagine...since my fence is huggin' their yards from side to side. I can just hear the kids next door, "Look mommy, that crazy lady is laying in the grass taking pictures again..." lol... :D
lmbo . . . yeah . . . I bet they wonder what you put in that tea of yours :))
I'm lucky that my nearest neighbor is too far away to have a good enough view to have a clue what I'm up to out there :D
lol....you are most definitely a very lucky guy.....Privacy is not prevalent in a subdivision....alas... :( But thank goodness, and I'll say it again, that we have no one hugging our back fence....cept' cows and critters.. :)
lol Nada, keep making those red ants nice and comfy at your place. And here I've been trying to tell GD that red ants are great to have around...and umm.....beneficial to the enviroment.. ;) I'm trying to talk em' into bringing a whole mound WITH the queen to the swaparoo....lol :D
*giggle THAT I have GOT to see!
lol....just put em' all in a mayonaise jar...it'll be fine... :D
This message was edited Jul 26, 2006 4:54 PM
In reference to the earlier bug and wasp discussion, I've just found the most wonderful site with pictures and info on a ton of critters. Check out
http://whatsthatbug.com/wasps.html
Wow, crowellli...that is indeed a neat web site...lots of great photos...
Cool deal Crowellli . . . I'll have to check that out.
Oh yeah right . . . I can just see it now . . . I'll be the laugh'n stock of DG!!! :P
Ya'll be come'n back from the swap meet tell'n everyone that GD is the one in the photos with ANTS IN HIS PANTS :O :P lol
Well . . . I had a red ant mound that insisted on surfacing in my paved driveway and as ya know . . . then make one heck of a mess. I caulked their hole recently and I think I talked them into relocating the enterance/exit. So now those guys are fine with me and can stay here as long as I don't have to clean up after them.
The ones that I don't like and don't want around are the leaf cutter red ants. Totally different critters. They'll take out a sapling tree over night and look for another one the next night. Those I can do without!
Not one wasp here this year - the nests are all empty and I have not seen one all year. They again no bees here this year... but loads of Squash Bugs - I will swap them any day.
By the way guys, since we are talking about getting rid of ants, I found an excellent and cheap way.
This only works if there are no plants nearby that you don't want to kill.
We had been bothered with ants for a long time, they were coming up from the crack that joines the sidewalk to our building, we had tried to kill them many differnt ways, but they allways came back.
Well I heard about plain old white vinegar being a good remedy, so I bought me a gallon of white vinegar and poured it down those cracks, the whole gallon mind you.
It bubbled and boiled up and the ants and their eggs all came up and died.
I did this 4 months ago, and haven't seen any of them since.
We had been bothered with them for years.
Caution, the vinegar will kill plants, so be careful where you use it.
Josephine.
Josephine, very interesting!
Speaking of wasps, which lead to MitchF's comment, "then again no bees...." Well maybe I know where the bees went!
I live in a suburb of Houston, in a subdivision surrounded by many subdivisions- years ago when we moved out here it was country, there were far fewer subdivisions and a lot of that land was owned by ranchers/farmers; Frost Brothers Ranch owned a big chunk- boy did they make money when they sold. Most of the roads were 2 lane roads- I do go on don't I? Just trying to give youj guys the idea that although this area is suburb now, it was not too long ago what I considered rural, but within a stones throw. There are still areas that do not have homes, stores, etc. Any way on June 11 of this year, very early in the morning I went out into the front yard and was doing something like weeding or something and I was working around the base of one of my HOA mandated oak trees and kept noticing that there were a fair amount of something flying around...I moved on to something else and then has this epiphany! Hey there was something buzzing around me a few minutes ago- I am often slow on the uptake. Went back and gee there were lots of bees buzzing around. Most of the time, anywhere in my yard there are a been or 2, but not lots so this was unusual. Looked up in the tree and OH MY GOSH!
and...
another shot...
I was a bit freaked out; wondered what I should do - my DH said oh just wait once it gets hot outside they will probably move on- the 1st photo was taken at 7:00 am- I didn't believe him and went in and out of the house every once in a while to see what they were up to. Finally just before 11:00 I went out the back door and heard this noise that even if I'd never heard it, would have known it, looked down the driveway, toward the front yard and saw this HUGE BLACK CLOUD moving in my direction, then past the garage, over the neighbors fence, then over his fence and over his until I could no longer see or hear it. This was what was left in the tree....
End of story- I was a little freaked out, glad I didn't have to call a professional, and was amazed beyond words that my DH was correct. It was strange, but this is where your bees were, in June anyway. LOL.
Nada, do you have a pic of the horney toad? Please post if you do! GD, should we trap some wasps and bring it to the swap for you? I have enough! BTW, am I the only one who's never been stung by the red wasps? Been around them for many years and never stung. I only dislike their habit of carrying off butterfly caterpillars. The scorpions now...they still sting me on occasion.
I have never been stung by anything but a yellow jacket.
We were driving home to my parent's house last summer....and out on IH 37, we ran into a swarm of bees.....lol, I was on my cell phone to my mother, and all of a sudden...heard this thrappin' noise..even my mother heard it. I could have rubbed a biscuit across the windshield what with all of the honey on it...lol
YIKES! That would have freaked me out.
I had no idea that they did that... they used to come for all the flowers... I had so many more flowers this year but no bees... I would hate to see them swarm!
I have only seen them swarm on a few occassions. Years ago they - well probably not these same bees, LOL- but some bees- were thinking of building a new home just above the window of my powder room. Gee that would have precluded the powder room occuppant from opening the window for a bit of fresh air- anyway they swarmed that area for about 3 or 4 days at a specific time of day- never saw them arrive but did seem them leave. I never knew why they were there, where they came from, what kept them from coming back or whom they terrorized next. They are a bit frightening, the noise, buzzing, is pretty distinctive.
I'm really blessed with lots of bee activity on my flowers....and hadn't noticed any shortage of them...
Here I had been wondering why there were so many red wasps this year!!! I did not know that they all decided to gather in East Texas!!! I know I have my share... I am 58 years old and never stung by a wasp until this year. Now I have been stung 3 times in 1 week!!!! Twice on the stomach through my bathing suit (not at the same time but both times watering in the same area) The ones on my stomach swelled up and made red areas that covered my whole stomach. This was a month or more ago and the actual sting sites are still visible. We found the nest and destroyed it. I can't go outside for a minute without seeing bunches of them. They come flying out like 6-10 of them at a time when we water hanging baskets. We have looked in the baskets and there are no nests. Next time we water they are there again. Still no nests. I think they are hanging out in there to catch bugs. We have seen them with spiders. I wish they would get the grasshoppers. They are the only thing that are more numerous than the wasps! LOL I would almost make it worth it to be stung.......I really hate grasshoppers.
no sorry I don't have a pic of the horny toad.
nada
Yardqueen the only waps that ever stung me were near a nest that was not within my reach- but I guess a wasp wouldn't know that I am only 5'4" and cannot reach a nest that is 12 feet off the ground. They are very protective. I do think those by the plants that I was cutting down, prunning in my garden, might have been a bit aggressive because they feared I would eat the cats! Who knows what goes on in the mind of a hungry wasp.
Prior to the wasps I had only ever been stung by regular bees and those 2 times were when I stepped on dead ones as a kid- I wasn't a dumb kid, just didn't see them.
Oh about the same time- not the same time of year but in the same home- I was pruning a rose- it was early fall/late summer and I'd notice a large black bumble bee buzzing about but since I wasn't bothering him I took no real notice. I'd never been stung by a live bee because I'd always been told that if you do not bother them, are not near their nest, etc. you will not be stung- suddenly I felt this awful pain, that intensified by the second on the back of my neck. I turned my back toward the window and there in the reflection was that great big bumble bee! The sucker had stung me! That hurt! not so bad as the wasps but still it hurt!
Hello Yardqueen, I new to Dg and see we’re neighbors. I’m glad to see someone from in my area. We moved here from Dallas 6 years ago. I’m finding a lot of differences in the way I have to garden out here in the Post Oak Belt. If you don’t mind me asking what grows well for you out here. Have you planted many trees? I’m not sure what does well here other than Water and Pin Oaks?
Wow April . . . great pics . . . I soooo know about bee swarms and yeah . . . they can be pretty loud - and spooky too . . . lol
Thanks for share'n that story and the images too :)
:O TxT . . . just be glad you weren't on a motorcycle that day!!! Could have had some serious "Bit's - O-Honey" huh? :D
Oh and yeah Linda . . . please do . . . the supply out here is a bit low this year :) You and Mitch are lucky I reckon. I think the only thing I haven't been stung by is a Honey Bee. Which is a little odd because I used to help my uncle extract honey from his hives when I was a kid. But his bees were pretty tame.
Bummer Nada . . . no pics of the horney toad? We're gonna have to fix that now aint we?
Ouch Yardqueen . . . need some Aleo Vera? I've got plenty extra.
And welcome cocoa_lulu . . . glad ya pop'd in . . . pull up a chair and sit a spell ;)
Yardqueen....your username is the ONLY one I've ever read that has caused me to want to "switch"!! It's soooo right on for a gardening site! Long ago, I registered "A1NetQueen" on AOL and don't use it that much (only for when I have to register for junk stuff that I don't want to be bothered with all my life!!) but I do think it's cute!
Well, I've been bitten/stug by a scorpion, red wasp, yellow jacket, and a bumble bee. Put a shoe on that had a scorpion in it when I was a kid. Stepped on a bumble bee while walking barefoot through a patch of clover. Annoyed a bunch of yellow jackets that were after ripe/rotting pears on the ground while I was trying to get some from the tree. The red wasps were the smartest of the bunch. I destroyed one of their nests that was close to the back door and when they swarmed, I ran inside. I thought it'd be safe to go back out a few hours later, but they were hanging out in the tree waiting on me for revenge and attacked. At least no snakes, unless you count my first husband.
scorpions - now I have been stung by a few of those.... ouch
lmbo Crow . . . I had a female snake bite like that once :))
Yup yup . . . sounds like you really annoyed those red devils . . . I knew they were mean but I didn't know they'd lay in wait on ya like that.