Blogging in Myrtle Glen

How is it possible to be a gardener and an arachnophobic?

Simple, one always  has to be watchful and knowing of the spiders’ territories.

I am sure my neighbors laugh about me when they see me on my morning walks through Myrtle Glen. I wave a stick in front of me, and yes there are times I do the ‘spider dance’ when a web gets on me despite my spider stick.

home of the resident Green Lynx

A Green Lynx (Peucetia viridans) took up residency in the soft leaves of my Mouse Trap Tree (Uncarina grandidieri).

This spider does not make a web but hides and jumps on its prey.

Green Lynx spider

Look at those long spines pointing in all directions…  I am wondering if the spider sticks itself

that's too close!

The largest fresh water snail in North America found in wetlands throughout the State.

Florida native apple snail

Apple snails are herbivorous, preferring soft vegetation but will also feed on dead animals (dead fish, frogs, insects)

The Florida native apple snail is an important food source of the endangered Everglades kites, but they are also on the menu for other birds, raccoons, otters, turtles and ducks.

the shell

The native apple snail is considered beneficial, compared to three introduced apple snail species.

native apple snail laying her eggs

The invading apple snail species have no natural predators, reproducing unchecked. With their voracious appetite they are capable of altering entire ecosystems by devouring the aquatic plants. Algae takes over blocking sunlight and therefore killing remaining plant life.

a countable number of eggs

The different apple snail species can easily be identified by differences in the egg masses that they lay. the Native apple snail lays a small number of soft pink eggs, and they turn white as their outer shell dries.
While the invasive species lay up to 700 salmon colored or pastel green eggs (smaller than the native ones) per cluster.

Small cluster of large white eggs at the rim of our Lotus bowl:

almost all of them hatched

Hopefully I can keep a small population of the Florida native apple snail living happily here in Myrtle Glen.

red shouldered hawks

Normally I see just one, but this morning both were on the lookout for breakfast. There is a conservation area close by, I am assuming this is where they get their food.
And since the hawks are around, I don’t see the Mourning Doves in the yard anymore.