Tag: hornet’s nest

Pressed Flowers – The Oddities of Pressing and Forced Tulip Update

On By TimelessladyIn Pressed Flowers4 Comments

Today I found an oak leaf with a beautiful section of skeletonized vein. The lacy leaf reminded me it’s time to take a walk in the woods and meadows to search for aged leaves and other oddities that will be good for flower-pressing.

When all the Autumn leaves disappeared this year I spotted a large hornet’s nest in a tree near our home. Every time I drove into my neighborhood my eyes were drawn to the nest. I have pressed hornet’s nest paper in the past and was hoping to have a chance to do so once again, but the nest hung on. I could see it was deteriorating and had little hope it would be usable when it fell.

This weekend, after another heavy rain, it slipped off the branch and hit the road. I saw it in time to collect it and just might be able to salvage some of the hornet-made paper to press. I don’t need to worry about eggs inside. I know only the queen survives and hibernates in bark or other crevices until it is warm enough to start a new nest. According to Pets on Mom.me, the hornet queen never returns to the old nest. I’m hoping to discover a way to slice the egg cell paper also, and will try to press that too; I love the pattern the hornets create.

Here’s a quick update on the tulip bulbs we forced. The bulbs in water and river rock are outpacing the bulbs planted in the shallow container of soil. I’ll update on bloom quality when they open up. My grandson was amazed when he visited a few days after planting the bulbs and saw how fast they had grown.

Problem-Solving – Hornet’s Nest

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving8 Comments

Today, while working in the garden I was stung. My first words were a startled, “What was that?” I thought right away it was a bee, but because I didn’t see the culprit, wondered if it might have been a spider of some kind disturbed by my earlier weeding.

Later in the morning, another pass near the spot drew my eyes up to the robin’s nest in the crape myrtle. She was gone, probably looking for some food, and then…I saw it, a few feet away from the empty nest, a hornet’s nest. NO!

I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo, but I took a quick shot…not willing to risk getting stung again. These hornets are bald-faced hornets.

I didn’t want to douse the nest with insecticide in hopes the robin might come back. Instead, I squirted a small amount into the opening and RAN. Of course they swarmed out; the insecticide didn’t seem to affect them other than make them angrier. I was righteously indignant too, and returned when things settled down with a large-lidded coffee can and pruning shears. When the hornets went back in the nest I quickly snipped away the branch, and let it fall into the can. I sprayed anything still flying into oblivion with a hard spray of water from the hose. I saw the queen escape, but don’t know where she went. Since this hornet’s nest was small and low this worked for me. I would never try it on a large one.

I filled the can with water and hopefully that is the end of the dilemma and hornets in my yard. Since I never provoked them, and was only walking by the bush when stung, I am so glad I saw it before more hornets hatched out. I have five grandchildren, and one has life-threatening allergies, he has never been stung as of yet so multiple stings could have been a disaster. Thank you Lord for eyes to see hazards around me.