trohde
May 11, 2025, 11:10pm
708
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; Fragaria × ananassa) is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus Fragaria, the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated for its aroma, bright red colour, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is eaten either fresh or in prepared foods such as jam, ice cream, and chocolates. Artificial strawberry flavourings and aromas are widely used in commercial products. Botanically, the strawberry is...
Fragaria vesca, commonly called the wild strawberry, woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the rose family that grows naturally throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, and that produces edible fruits.
The Latin specific epithet vesca may mean "thin, feeble", however it likely derives in the sense of "edible" from vescere "to eat, feed upon".
Five to eleven soft, hairy white flowers are borne on a green, s...
Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis /ˌkɒnvəˈlɛəriə məˈdʒeɪlɪs/), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe. Convallaria majalis var. montana, also known as the American lily of the valley, is native to North America.
Due to the concentration of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), it is highly poisonous...
Forgive the horrible photo
I couldn’t convince the camera to focus on the flower and was too impatient
Robertiella robertiana
Geranium robertianum, commonly known as herb-robert or, in North America, as Robert's geranium, is a species of cranesbill that is widespread throughout the northern hemisphere and introduced to some countries in the southern. It is common in woods, hedges, gardens, and on waste ground, and can also be found on shingle beaches and limestone pavements. It is not rare or threatened, but in some places, it is considered to be invasive.
Herb-robert is a small, usually bienn...
I hope it’s OK if I leave the Wikipedia links expanded, with preview, instead of in a paragraph like here, it’s just that it might save someone from having to click and go for a longer read over there
And then, recently, I managed to schlepp myself to the park across the street once again, and I sat on the bench in the small center roundabout, in the sun, when I saw this, about 2 metres awayx:
and there were dozens of them all around … (you know that you get a full-size view if you click it, do you?) … small gold-metallic plastic discs …
⌀ ~1 cm, 0.393701" — or 28.3465 points for media colleagues
And TIL the English word for “Paillette”: “sequin”.
A sequin (/ˈsiːkwɪn/ SEE-kwin) is a small, typically shiny, generally disk-shaped ornament.
Sequins are also referred to as paillettes, spangles, or diamanté (also spelled diamante). Although the words sequins, paillettes, lentejuelas, and spangles can be used interchangeably, diamanté (literally "set with diamonds") is both an adjective and a plural-only noun, which specifically refers to diamond-shaped sequins and can also be used to mean "artificial diamonds", which serve the same purpose as...
Pictures from home. Not always a wide angle view
6 Likes
trohde
May 14, 2025, 6:51pm
709
Today, on my terrace: Europian Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
7 Likes
trohde
May 14, 2025, 7:25pm
710
A few more pics, nothing special, just letting you accompany me for a while.
Cotoneaster horizontalis (German common name: Fächer-Zwergmispel) on the terrace of the old friend whom I visited (and mentioned in another thread) yesterday.
Uploading: IMG_7680.jpg…
Carpenter Ant, possibly Camponotus ligniperda (German: Braunschwarze Rossameise)
Horse Chestnut (
Aesculus hippocastanum )
Aesculus hippocastanum, the horse chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the maple, soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large, deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree. It is also called horse-chestnut, European horsechestnut, buckeye, and conker tree. It is not to be confused with the sweet chestnut or Spanish chestnut, Castanea sativa, which is a tree in another family, Fagaceae.: 371
Aesculus hippocastanum is a large tree, growing to about 39 metres (128 ft) ...
Garden Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum ), also Grass Lily, Nap-at-Noon, or Eleven-o’Clock Lady (because the flower open later in the day), in the small park across the street. Probably NOT planted there.
Ornithogalum umbellatum, the garden star-of-Bethlehem, grass lily, nap-at-noon, or eleven-o'clock lady, is a perennial bulbous flowering plant in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae). O. umbellatum is a relatively short plant, occurring in tufts of basal linear leaves, producing conspicuous white flowers, in a stellate pattern, in mid to late spring. The flowers open late in the day (hence some of its common names), but when closed have a green stripe on the outside. It is native throughout so...
Meanwhile, when walking through the village, I need many pauses, and I walk very slowly due to breathing problems. If you smoke, please quit immediately. I quit 7 months ago but COPD is a lethal disease that progresses no matter what, once you have it.
These ants are smaller (can you spot one?), possibly the Black Garden Ant (Lasius niger )
The black garden ant (Lasius niger), also known as the common black ant, is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus Lasius, which is found across Europe and in some parts of North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The European species was split into two species; L. niger, which are found in open areas; and L. platythorax, which is found in forest habitats. It is monogynous, meaning colonies contain a single queen.
Lasius niger colonies normally range from 4,000 to 7,000 w...
8 Likes
I’ve seen plenty of horse chestnut when hiking, and I even remember the first time I looked it up in my tree book about 50 years ago, because it has a distinctive leaf pattern and seed pod. However, I don’t think I have ever seen it in bloom. Very pretty.
2 Likes
A pair of these is breeding on our balcony atm.
3 Likes
trohde
May 23, 2025, 11:18pm
714
Recently, ~30 km away from my home, I found a poppy field (sadly not the somniferum kind, otherwise I’d visit the field again when they are fruiting
Small dusty wave (colours vary a lot) sitting on my front door (German: Grauer Zwergspanner )
—
Great spotted woodpecker (German: Buntspecht
Forgive the bad photo (resp. the dirty window but I don’t clean them so the birds won’t fly against them and break their necks) … and s/he moved so fast that I couldn’t manage to take a better picture that shows it fully but it’s the largest bird that visits my peanut silos!
Just some wood that’s been cut in the forest, I have no idea why, but I love such boring photos.
And finally, the Common Chiffchaff taking a bath again (German: Zilpzalp
11 Likes
I couldn’t convince the camera to focus on the flower and was too impatient 
)
