Growing With Science Blog

One of the reasons I named this feature “Bug of the Week” was so I could occasionally include non-insects. This is one of those weeks.

My son and I have added what we call our “practice pond” to our back yard. It is not much more than a container with water and plants, but we are already finding critters. We think they came with the plants.

Yesterday we decided to check what the little moving flecks were under our old microscope. Wow, they were so cool. They had oar-like appendages to move with and you could see stuff moving around inside. We figured out they were water fleas, a type of tiny crustacean.

Although I don’t have a way of capturing what we saw via video (yet), here’s a YouTube video that gives you an idea.

Aren’t they cool?

Have you ever checked pond water for tiny animals?

If you have never seen these seeds before, you might think I’m playing an early April Fool’s joke.

No, these are real seed pods.

Any guesses?

Edit:  the answer is now up here.

The mystery seeds last week

came from a plant with a beautiful flower.

This lovely flower is from a desert willow tree, Chilopsis linearis. Although the leaves are long and narrow like a willow, the tree is actually a close relative of the catalpa. We covered the catalpa in an earlier seed of the week post. If you check that post, you can see how similar the flowers are.

Our desert willow is a favorite with birds and bees when it is flowering. Even the giant, lumbering green June beetles visit the flowers for nectar and pollen.

Here in Arizona you commonly see desert willows growing along washes. It is a native plant, but is also used extensively in landscapes. Desert willows will bloom throughout the spring and summer, although they will quit flowering during dry spells.

For further information see The University of Arizona’s Master Gardener Journal