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| Lance-leaved Coreopsis, or tickseed, Needham Community Farm, Needham, MA |
The raised beds that comprise the gardens of Needham Community Farm take up a relatively small part of the entire property. (It used to be the site of a Nike missile base, don't you know.) The rest is a meadow of long grasses and wildflowers. I took a walk through the meadow to see what I might find.
The meadow is dominated right now by the normal July bloomers: wild carrot and fleabane, with black-eyed Susans getting ready to bloom in large numbers. I was struck by the lovely tickseed (above) and a small stand of Deptford pink (below).
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| Deptford Pink, Needham Community Farm, Needham, MA |
And this lovely low blooming flower that I don't recognize.
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| Unknown |
Perhaps someone else does...
I was also interested in insect life, though I did not do an exhaustive survey. You can see black swallowtail, as well as abundant cabbage and sulfurs (not good but unavoidable). I was glad this eastern tailed blue decided to open its wings a bit.
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| Eastern Tailed Blue |
There are many dragonflies of many sorts. (I always intend to indentify them, until I look at the long long species list), Here are some photos, nonetheless.
And this beetle, chewing on a common mullein, looks like a potential problem, no?
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| on the mullein |
The bird scene was livelier that I remember. Right now the meadow is a nursery for chipping sparrows (I flushed over a dozen just walking through) and red-winged blackbirds. Common grackle and common crows flew over while I was there, making me think that concern about blackbirds in the garden is reasonable. Eastern towhee and scarlet tanager sang from the wood's edge. And no house sparrows that I could detect, making it safe to put up some nesting boxes.
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