Tag: wildflowers

Sunday (24-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, Northern Flicker, and Eastern Phoebe. I haven’t seen a Northern Flicker for a while. There continues to be lots of action at the Eastern Phoebe nest with both parents feed the new hatchlings.


Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Spring flowers of the day — Poppies (California, Oriental, Red), Dame’s Rocket, Five-spot, Rhododendron, Johnny Jump Up, Babies Blue Eyes, Bachelor Button, Cornflower, Sweet William, Dianthus, Siberian Wallflower, Daisy, Foxglove, Babies Breath, Grass Lily, Forget-me-not, and Tulip Tree.


Flowers of the Day — Portrait via Leica TL2 camera and 55-135 mm lens. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Flowers of the Day — Landscape via Leica TL2 camera and 55-135 mm lens. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my https://www.davidmathre.com/gallery/20200524-flwr1L/G0000BZxOESU684g/C0000_OAlOXNRF70.


Flowers of the Day — Portrait via Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 OIS mm lens. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Flowers of the Day — Landscape via Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 OIS mm lens Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (70.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny much of the day. A surplus of 23.3 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (339 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (448 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A surplus of 109 kWh.


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Tuesday (22-October-2019) — New Jersey

Indoor Hydroponic Updates

AeroGarden Bounty 01, 28 Days. Cosmos Dwarf Sensation, Cosmos Early Dwarf, Zinnia Thumbelina, Zinnia Lilliput Mix, Marigold Sparky Mix, Blanket Flower, Sweet Alyssum, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, and Plains Coreopsis (All wildflower seeds from American Meadows). All plants sprouted. The two Cosmos, two Zinnia, Marigold, and Plains Coreopsis continue to growing well. The Blanket Flower, Sweet Alyssum, and Lance-leaf Coreopsis are still very small and there is some mold growing on the brown substrate.

AeroGarden Bounty 01 at 28 days. 01 Cosmos Dwarf Sensation; 02 Cosmos Early Dwarf; 03 Zinnia Thumbelina; 04 Zinnia Lilliput Mix; 05 Marigold Sparky Mix; 06 Blanket Flower; 07 Sweet Alyssum; 08 Coreopsis Lance-leaf; 09 Coreopsis Plains. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Bounty 01 at 28 days. 01 Cosmos Dwarf Sensation; 02 Cosmos Early Dwarf; 03 Zinnia Thumbelina; 04 Zinnia Lilliput Mix; 05 Marigold Sparky Mix; 06 Blanket Flower; 07 Sweet Alyssum; 08 Coreopsis Lance-leaf; 09 Coreopsis Plains. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Bounty 02, 28 Days. Crimson Clover, California Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Red Poppy Mix, Red Poppy, Blue Cornflower, Purple Cornflower, Lemon Mint, Lupine (All wildflower seeds from American Meadows). The Blue Cornflower (Bachelor Button) is growing robustly and blocking other positions. The Oriental Poppy and Purple Cornflower have not sprouted. The remaining planse sprouted, but are small and growing slowly.

AeroGarden Bounty 02 (Right) at 28 days. 01 Crimson Clover, ; 02 California Poppy; 03 Oriental Poppy; 04 Red Poppy Mix; 05 Red Poppy; 06 Blue Cornflower; 07 Purple Cornflower; 08 Lemon Mint; 09 Lupine. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Bounty 02 (Right) at 28 days. 01 Crimson Clover, ; 02 California Poppy; 03 Oriental Poppy; 04 Red Poppy Mix; 05 Red Poppy; 06 Blue Cornflower; 07 Purple Cornflower; 08 Lemon Mint; 09 Lupine. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

I decided to move the larger successful plants to one of the AeroGarden Farm hydroponic trays where they will have more room to grow and develop. The smaller plants from both Bounty 01 and Bounty 02 that were alive were moved to Bounty 01, and the ones that had not germinated discarded. The tray was cleaned and filled with a fresh growth solution (4.25 L DI water + 12 mL plant food; pH 4.96, 592 ppm). Bounty 02 was was also cleaned and filled with a fresh growth solution (4.25 L DI water + 12 mL plant food; pH 4.93, 584 ppm). It was then restarted with new seeds. 01 Oriental Poppy; 02 Oriental Poppy; 03 California Poppy; 04 Nasturtium; 05 Purple Cornflower; 06 Red Poppy; 07 Red Poppy; 08 Red Poppy; 09 Red Poppy Mix.

The Swiss Chard in Farm 03 Left was blocking other plants and needed to be harvested again.

AeroGarden Farm 03 Left Tray at 33 days. L01-L03 Broccoli; L04-06 Swiss Chard; L07-L09 Basil; L10 Dill; L11-12 Parsley. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Farm 03 Left Tray at 33 days. L01-L03 Broccoli; L04-06 Swiss Chard; L07-L09 Basil; L10 Dill; L11-12 Parsley. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (4.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. Overall a net deficit of 54.8 kWh. Geothermal HVAC to heat the house (0 kWh), Hydroponics (22.6 kWh), Computers and Servers (19.5 kWh), Kitchen (2.6 kWh).

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Friday (04-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Nature in New Jersey.

The two AeroGarden Bounty Gardens have been online for 10 days with a variety of wildflowers. So far in the first garden, two types of Cosmos, two types of Zinnia, a Marigold, Blanket Flower, Sweet Alyssum, and two types of Coreopsis have sprouted. In the second garden the Crimson Clover, a Red Poppy (mix), Blue Cornflower, and Lupine have sprouted. The California Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Red Poppy, Purple Cornflower, and Lemon Mint have not sprouted. It appears that the support for the seeds for some of the ones that have not sprouted are dry. I wet them from the top to see is anything happens?

AeroGarden Foyer Bounty Left at 10 days. 1) Cosmos Dwarf Sensation; 2) Cosmos Early Dwarf; 3) Zinnia Thumbelina; 4) Zinnia Lilliput Mix; 5) Marigold Sparky Mix; 6) Blanket Flower; 7) Sweet Alyssum; 8) Coreopsis Lance-leaf; 9) Coreopsis Plains. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Foyer Bounty Left at 10 days. 1) Cosmos Dwarf Sensation; 2) Cosmos Early Dwarf; 3) Zinnia Thumbelina; 4) Zinnia Lilliput Mix; 5) Marigold Sparky Mix; 6) Blanket Flower; 7) Sweet Alyssum; 8) Coreopsis Lance-leaf; 9) Coreopsis Plains. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Foyer Bounty Right at 10 days. 1) Crimson Clover, ; 2) California Poppy; 3) Oriental Poppy; 4) Red Poppy Mix; 5) Red Poppy; 6) Blue Cornflower; 7) Purple Cornflower; 8) Lemon Mint; 9) Lupine. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
AeroGarden Foyer Bounty Right at 10 days. 1) Crimson Clover, ; 2) California Poppy; 3) Oriental Poppy; 4) Red Poppy Mix; 5) Red Poppy; 6) Blue Cornflower; 7) Purple Cornflower; 8) Lemon Mint; 9) Lupine. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.2 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Partly sunny and still cool outside. The Geothermal HVAC system wasn’t needed. Computers, Servers and AV (20.2 kWh), Hydroponics (11.3 kWh), Kitchen (2.6 kWh), Laundry (3.3 kWh), Well and Hot Water (1.0 kWh). Overall a net deficit of 11.3 kWh.

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Tuesday (01-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens. There must have been a hundred Monarch butterflies feeding in my wildflower meadows today. The Monarch butterflies were feeding on Cosmos, Zinnia, Mexican Sunflower, and Marigold flowers. At least one Monarch butterfly was caught, probably by a Praying Mantis. All that was left were the wings on the ground. The Painted Lady butterflies liked the Marigold and Lemon Mint flowers.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (54.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun in the afternoon and warmer out. The Geothermal HVAC used 6.1 kWh for cooling. The new hydroponic gardens used 8.7 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 12.7 kWh.

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Monday (23-September-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Something different. Seeds of the various wildflowers I have planted in my backyard over the last few years trying to create a wildflower meadow. This fall and winter I am going to try and grow some of these indoors in either hydroponic or regular dirt gardens. One of the goals is to know what the plants look like before they develop flowers so in the future I can better what is a weed vs. something I want growing in the wildflower meadows. I also want to relate which which wildflowers did or did not work in my gardens, especially from the wildflower seed mixtures. More seeds and seed mixtures will be in tomorrow’s post.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the slideshow.


Yesterday Electric Energy Used (61.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (48.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Less sun and warmer. As the sun gets lower, the leaves from one of my Sycamore trees block the solar panels part of the afternoon. You can see the hump in the graph. The Geothermal HVAC was on (11.6 kWh). Server backup and new hydroponic garden online. Overall a net deficit of 12.6 kWh.

Daily Electric Energy Used (69.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (47.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Warmer out so the Geothermal HVAC was back on for much of the afternoon and evening (19.2 kWh). Using more electricity while running server backups and the new hydroponic gardens. Overall a net deficit of 22.2 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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