Love for all Living Things

Hi, I'm Kai ! I'm a gardener that loves nature and wildlife! 26 he/him

[kairich295]

The same part of my neighborhood during each season. 😊🌸☀️🍁❄️

[kairich295]

Cucumber flowers 🥒🌼

[kairich295]

Did you know that we are already losing daylight hours! Starting now, it gets dark 1 to 2 minutes earlier every day, but once it's mid August it will get dark 3 to 5 minutes earlier every day especially if you live in northern areas. Back in June, sunset was at 8:37 pm (or 20:37) now, it's at 8:25 pm (20:25)! So far, we lost 12 min of daylight since June. The Sun is also rising later in the morning. Meanwhile, the Moon is on its own course, though it looks like it's rising and setting much later now. ☀️🌕🌌🕐

[kairich295]

This plant is called Plantain! It is a common weed found in yards. They grow flowers from late spring to early autumn. The picture shows the plant developing seeds after flowering. The flowers dry up and turn brown, then the seeds come out. These plants are native to Europe and Asia but they are now common in North America because of European settlers bringing the seeds over on ships in the 17th century!🌿

[porterdavis]

[kairich295]

Kai Richardson (@KaiRichard71327) on X

I'm a gardener that loves nature, wildlife, cartoons and video games!

I'm on Twitter as well! 🌸🫑🍉🎮😊

[kairich295]

Pics of my garden in 2022. This was a great gardening year, I had some nice harvests. This was the year that I first started composting! It's amazing that the plants in my garden today are actually using the compost that I created back in 2022! This is because compost really takes many, many years to fully break down! You can still use compost while it's still breaking down, as long as you sift it first. 🌼🌿🌸🍉

[kairich295]

Echinacea (or Coneflowers) in my garden. These flowers are Native to the eastern part of North America. They are a great addition to any garden as they attract many pollinators like bees and butterflies! They're drought tolerant once established. They're usually pink or purple, but I've seen some that are red.🌸❤️

[herpsandbirds]

i'm a mosquito scientist and i wish more people appreciated how cool and interesting and beautiful mosquitoes can be. they have shiny red-green sparkles in their eyes and the engorged females are super cool! the males' fluffy antennae are really cute! some species such as the Sabethes cyaneus are absolutely gorgeous!! the pupae when viewed from above with their little trumpets are adorable!

also fun fact, there are almost 4,000 species of mosquitoes and only a select few are even attracted to humans!

here's some standouts from my lab-reared Culex tarsalis

How about some appreciation for animals that most of us do not appreciate! All life is valuable.

[kairich295]

Early Summer vs Late Summer 🌳🌲

Summer is the hottest and brightest season, but as the season progresses, things start to change. Early Summer (June to July) is a period of optimistic life and growth! The days are the longest and the Sun is the strongest. Plants and trees are growing very fast, and trees have fresh, bright green leaves! Birds are chirping loudly, still having babies and defending their territories. Warm season crops are still growing mostly leaves, but are now starting to grow flowers! The air is hot, but the ground and water temperatures are cooler because of the cooler spring temperatures before (ground and water temperatures take longer to change compared to air). The temperature usually drops slightly at night.🥒

By late Summer (August and September) thangs have changed a lot. Autumn is approaching and plants and animals are preparing for Winter now. The days are shorter and the Sun is still strong but slightly weaker. Plants and trees are still growing fast but slightly slower now. The leaves that trees have now look a more dull and dirty green because of all of the heat. Warm season crops are now growing more flowers and fruits instead of leaves. Late Summer is actually the start of the harvest season. Birds are quiet now because they're beginning to shed their feathers (called molting). Then brand new feathers grow, these thicker feathers allow birds to survive Winter (for some birds) and migrate southward! It's still hot but now it's even more humid and muggy because the ground and water temperatures are very warm now, just like the air. The temperature barely drops at night.🍉

In nature, changes happen all around us during each season, some we notice and some we don't notice. Nature is amazing! Below is a picture of an adorable Monarch Butterfly caterpillar on my corn during late Summer!🌻

[druidinvirginia]

creeping bellflower

[04k96]

[kairich295]

My garden last year in August 2025 (top) and my garden this year, in June 2026 (bottom). I'm growing most of the same plants as last year, but l transplanted some of my warm season crops earlier, in mid‐May instead of mid-June. Last year I realized I didn't have enough potting soil for the plants so I had to wait to get a lot of it and transplant each of them in June. I tried making my own seed starting mix (soil that seedlings like to grow in) last year but I had problems so I had to start over later. My Tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, Marigold, Cucumbers, Golden Berries, Pumpkins, Hibiscus, Borage and Cantaloupe started growing much later last year.🍈

This year however, I already have all the soil from last year, so I started and transplanted all of of these plants about a month earlier this time, as soon as it was consistently warm at night. I just bought seed starting mix instead of making my own. When you grow plants earlier you get a earlier harvest. The plant growing in the large orange pot is Golden berries, last year it didn't start growing flowers until October so I never got a real harvest because it got too cold. But now the plant is already bigger than it was last year, so maybe I can harvest it's berries sooner. I'm already getting Borage flowers now, last year, I didn't get any flowers until September!🍂

But it's important not to start your warm season plants too early, that's much worse than starting them too late. Even if they survive a spring frost, they still have to deal with chilly nighttime temperatures first before things warm up later. This will stress them out. You have to wait until it's consistently warm every night, at least 50-55 degrees F (10-14 degrees C). Where I live this usually happens in mid to late May. Or you can wait 2-3 weeks after your last frost date!🌡

[jetix]

Aleksander Nordahl

[kairich295]

This plant is called Fleabane! The flowers look similar to Dasies. They are native to North America. This is a picture of one that popped up in my garden so I Iet it grow! They're considered a weed, but these plants are actually good for yards and gardens! They attract many native pollinators that love these flowers. I'm seeing many of these unique, native pollinators! In the past, this plant was believed to repel fleas, that's how the plant got it's name. However, this was later proven false, though the plant still kept it's name! 🌿🌼

[sealsdaily]

Today's Seal Is: Largest Blueberry In The World

[kairich295]

These are Diamond Bell Peppers, big, beautiful yellowish-white colored Peppers! They are small and are still growing right now, but soon they will get much larger and then they will be ready to harvest! 🌿🫑⚪️🟡