I arrived at my sit-spot at around 4:30 and left around 6:00pm. I observed my sit-spot on Wednesday October 7th, and I was facing the south western direction. I picked what looked to be some flowers that weren’t completely bloomed, it was about 10 feet away from my sit-spot and they were to the west of me tucked in some bushes. I picked this organism because of how colorful and bright it was, and I was curious as to what it might turn into if it was just buds. I also wanted to see if I could identify the flower before it bloomed and see if my predictions were correct based off of research.

 

My organism is a pink color but a pretty deep/ dark pink color and the buds of what seems to be a flower were very tiny. The buds had a slight opening at the top from where they bloom, and the buds felt very smooth. I did kind of pull at the buds, and they were very fragile and were easily pulled off. These flowers were in bunches, not just by themselves which seems very common for flowers, I also noticed there were no bees trying to pollinate it like they were with the other flowers.

 

I did some research on this flower and found out it was buddleia also known as a butterfly bush. I wish it was bloomed so I could see some butterflies around it. Where did the name Buddleia come from? It came from a seventeenth century amateur botanist named Reverend Adam Buddle was honored posthumously, when the first butterfly bush reached England in 1774. This shrub actually originates from Chile. One fun fact is that its unfamiliar name prompted one nursery tradesman to call it the “Globose Buddlebush.” This plant is very easy to grow and very hard to kill, It’s generally pest-free, except for spider mite infestations during drought or stress. It performs adequately in spare soil but prefers a sunny spot with well-drained soil, a light application of fertilizer in spring, and a few deep watering’s in summer.

 

I identified the organism by doing a google picture search and the plant looked very similar to the other pictures on google. When trying to identify this plant I found It quite easy actually, I thought it would be more difficult. I found it kind of boring, I didn’t really enjoy doing it, but it still was interesting to find a new plant and learn some new facts.