Ruby and the Rockets (and Rabbits!)

Ruby and the Rockets!  

(Are you thinking that's a great name for a band? Okay, I'm glad to know I'm not alone.)

The kind of rockets I'm writing about are Dame's Rockets.  And the rabbits... you are going to have to wait til the end of this post to see!

Dame's Rockets are blooming now.

Yes, that's the name for those pinkish/purplish/whitish flowers that many people call Phlox. 

They do look very similar to Garden Phlox, and unless you look at them closely, you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

So, let's go with Ruby to look more closely and see.

Dame's Rocket flowers have only four petals and are actually in the Mustard family, while a true Phlox has five-petaled flowers and is in the Phlox family.

It is also not a 'native' (note the word 'Alien' after its name in the above photo.  While not native to our region (it's from Eurasia), it certainly has 'naturalized' here.  

Garden Phlox, on the other hand, is a native phlox (Phlox paniculata) which has been cultivated and hybridized.  There are many color varieties.  The one I have in my garden is a white one called 'Miss Lingard'.  It's not blooming yet this year so here's a photo from last year of it with a Hummingbird Moth (or Hummingbird Clearwing).

It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the flowers do have 5 petals.   

Another difference between Dame's Rocket and Phlox is their leaves.  Phlox have opposite leaves and Dame's Rocket have alternate leaves (referring to their placement on the stem).  You can see the arrows pointing to the leaves in my field guide.

And in real life-- Dame's Rocket leaves:

and Phlox leaves:

Both flowers are sweet-smelling and pretty!  

Gather yourself a bouquet of Dame's Rocket... there are plenty of them.

But don't ask me why they are different colors... I don't know, and I haven't found anything in my research that tells.  (Sorry, Laura!)

Now, you've learned more about these flowers than you probably cared about (and not what you wanted to know, Laura) but your patience in reading will now be rewarded with the second part of my title... "(and Rabbits!)".

While Ruby and I were on our walk, looking at Dame's Rockets (which she was NOT at ALL interested in), she found something she was VERY interested in.

This area had been tall grass just a few days before and then it was rotary mowed, leaving this exposed--

 I had to drag Ruby away from it, because inside were...

BABY BUNNIES!

After putting Ruby in the house, I went back to check on this furry, occasionally undulating nest.  I very carefully opened it up slightly with a long, thin stick.  After taking a couple of quick photos, I closed it back up and gently placed some long pieces of dried grass over it.

This morning I couldn't resist checking on the bunny nest again.  I am happy to report that the babies seem to be doing fine!   Here's a couple of peeks:

Which do you like better?  The bunnies or the flowers?  Ruby says, definitely the rabbits!

Dr. Ruby and the Rain

Ruby and I were poking along on our walk yesterday.  It was hot and humid, and there were a lot of things to sniff out, so we weren't in a hurry-- at least in the beginning.

 Most of the time, Ruby stays on the path, but sometimes she just can't resist following a scent thru the taller grass.  She can't SEE much, but the smells are enticing I guess!

Ox-Eye Daisies are very pretty, and we'll forgive them for not being native.  Mrs. William Starr Dana wrote in her book, 'How to Know the Wildflowers', first published in 1893, that the name Daisy came from the true daisy of England (Bellis perennis).  Its flowers opened in the morning and closed at night so it was called the "day's eye".  Our Ox-Eye Daisy is actually in the Chrysanthemum family and doesn't open and close with the sun... but I still like the name "Day's Eye".   Mrs. Dana gives another common name... she says in Scotland they are called "Dog-Daisy".  Ruby likes that one!

Ruby is a good girl and knows "Please don't eat the Daisies", however she does like her veggies, so she chews on some grass.

 Like I said, it's hot, so Ruby and I head towards home and to the little creek.

She cools off (at least her feet and the bottoms of her ears)!
Then I tell her we'd better head back to the house because there are storm clouds coming.

We barely get inside before the wind picks up and the rain starts.
It gets darker and darker.

"I don't mind, I'm ready for a nap anyway!"

But what do the other animals do in the rain?

The red-winged blackbirds don't seem to mind it, and they keep coming to eat sunflower seeds... although they do have to stop and shake every once and awhile!

This poor male oriole sits and waits for me to refill the grape jelly feeder.  I will as soon as the rain lets up a little!

Not yet!
This oriole eats from the orange in the rain...

It, too, gives a shake every little bit.

Finally the rain lets up and I go out and put some jelly in the feeder.  The birds quickly line up to eat, looking rather damp.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

This morning, there are almost 3 1/2 inches of rain in our gauge.

The little creek is gushing.  I don't think Ruby would like it today.

This morning the swamp is filling up with brown run-off.

But through the rain and the mud, the animals keep on with life... the baby wood ducks are getting bigger.

The bunnies are, too.  This one better be careful though.  The puddles in the road are not a good place to play!

Good, little bunny.... run away!

Bunny Tale

I had something else planned for my next post, but today something popped up!  Bunnies popped up, actually - four of them!
 
It's really too bad Ruby, PhD, wasn't here.... she would have been very excited.  Even if she didn't see what happened (which would have been likely), she would have had fun figuring it out later with her nose!  Here's the story as told by Cottontail-- (not Peter this time)!

 Once upon a time, there was a lady on a huge, loud lawn mower.  It came very close to our rabbit nest in the tall grass.  We were scared!  We didn't know what to do, but the noise was just too much, so all four of us popped up and ran!  

 Two of my sisters went running across the short grass and then disappeared into the tall grass on the other side.  But Peter and I ran right to the door of the shed.  (No, not Mr. McGregor’s).  Peter found a pretty good hiding spot.  I wasn't so lucky!

That's me on the right.  Can you see Peter in his hiding place under the left side of the door?

 The lady stopped the noisy mower, thank goodness!  She left for a minute or two, but then came back with a strange-looking black thing that she pointed at me.  It made some clicking sounds.  I tried to disappear by making myself as small as I could.

 

Can you still see me?

The next thing I knew, the lady very gently picked me up!  Oh my!
The black thing clicked again.  But for some reason I wasn't scared.  Very quickly, the lady put me right down in the tall grass near our nest.  Even though she didn't hurt me, I was glad to be back there!

I wonder what Peter is doing?

I know the lady went back that way....maybe she clicked that black thing at Peter, too.  I'm sure she won't hurt him, because she was very gentle with me.

Peter hasn't come back yet, so maybe Mother will have to go looking for him.  I know he was safe though and will get back home.  He will probably even get to have bread and milk and blackberries for dinner, because he wasn't a bad bunny (this time!), he just was a little too scared to stay where Mama said.  Flopsy and Mopsy will be able to find their way home, too, because they are smart little bunnies.  
The End.