Tag: Flowers

Thursday (11-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Walkabout around the house to view the flowers and wildflower gardens. A Monarch butterfly, Bumblebees, and a Firefly in a Poppy Flower. Kermit the bullfrog in the pond and hiding in the grass, and an immature American Goldfinch eating the Bachelor Button (Cornflowers). The bird is blind in one eye. Then a variety of flowers.

Troll in the Garden. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Troll in the Garden. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


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Daily Power Use (48.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (35.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of clouds today, especially in the afternoon so I used more power than was generated.

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Thursday (04-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

For the Fourth of July, I did my walkabout with a Nikon D850 camera and a different macro lens. This time an older Nikon 105 mm f/2.8 VR lens (some of the time with a TC-E III 2x teleconverter). During the night a racoon knocked down a sunflower plant while trying to climb up the birdfeeder. I was specifically looking for insects that are attracted to the flowers and wildflowers. The larger bumblebees like the Cosmos flowers. The Poppies attract honey bees and hoverflies. The hoverflies also like the Chicory. Lots of Poppy images. The other flowers and wildflowers include: Red allium, Black-eyed Susan, Blue Flax, Chicory, Coreopsis, Cornflower, Cosmos, Godetia, Larkspur, Leopard’s bane, Love-in-a-mist, Phlox, Siberian Wallflower, Sunflower, and Zinnia. While out stalking the flowers and insects, I also got images of a young fawn just outside the electric fence and a neighborhood cat.


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Neighborhood Cat -- was hunting songbirds under the birdfeeder until I came out with the camera. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Neighborhood Cat — was hunting songbirds under the birdfeeder until I came out with the camera. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (56.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (81.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun was out most of the day, so I generated more power than the geothermal HVAC system needed to keep the house cool.

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Wednesday (03-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Another hot summer day. Red-bellied Woodpecker at the bird feeder. It likes the sunflower seeds, and is aggressive enough to keep the Blue Jay and Cardinal away. A doe walked by covered with black flies. Some wide views of the wildflower gardens and meadows. Then closeup, macro images of the flowers and wildflowers: Red allium, Black-eyed Susan, Coreopsis, Cornflower, Cosmos, Creeping Daisy, Five spots, Forget-me-not, Godetia, Italian clover, Larkspur, Leopard’s bane, Love-in-a-mist, Phlox, Poppy, Sunflower, Yucca, Zinnia, and several I have not identified. Since it is hotter on the patio where I have my garden towers, the hot peppers are already turning red.

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Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (61.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (55.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The outside temperatures were high, so the geothermal HVAC system was working hard and I ended up using more energy that the solar panels could produce. You can see in the graph that there were clouds that reduced the solar energy production.

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Monday (17-June-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I continue to get new poppies blooming every day. The most are red, some are pink, and one was white. The flowers attract tiny hoverflies.

White Poppy. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
White Poppy. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


White and Pink Poppy. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
White and Pink Poppy. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (54.0 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (38.75 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is down since I adjusted the thermostat to 72°F.

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Sunday (16-June-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Wildflowers in bloom and my urban garden. The yucca plant sent shoots up to flower. The local deer really like these, and if I don’t catch and protect the shoots I don’t get any of the yucca flowers. These flowers bloom at night, around a full moon and attract some large moths. Lots of red poppies and cosmos flowers. Other flowers include the blue spiderworts (open for a day, every day new ones), cornflowers (bachelor buttons — attract goldfinches), morning glory vines, and daisy’s. The garden towers are full of fruits and vegetables. One of my sunflower plants is taller than I am. It is also supporting a burma gourd (water gourd plant) that I hope to get some gourds this year.







Daily Power Use (74.2 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (42.05 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is up since I reduced the indoor temperature provided by the WaterFurnace Geothermal HVAC system. Will raise the indoor temperature to 72°F for tomorrow. The power was also out for a little over one hour in the morning. For safety/code reasons, if the PSE&G power is down, my solar panels are disconnected from the grid. I’m thinking of getting a couple of Tesla PowerWall batteries so this doesn’t happen in the future.

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