Frog Hollow Landscapes, LLC

10/10/2024

Aurora Borealis from our frontyard in Georgetown, MA

08/22/2024

Today's fun project involved ensuring the lavender wasn't hidden by ornamental grass, so I braided the grass for a visually appealing solution.

07/24/2024

We have been working on a pollinator garden for three years that is resistant to deer and groundhogs. The homeowner has honey bees. We started by planting the hillside three years ago (pictures to come). Last year, we completed the hammock patio and some planting on the embankment. Today, we finished the planting.

01/22/2024

Interesting article about the benefits of this wasp.
https://www.facebook.com/share/BeWEFikRZiHKu3F1/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Turning over downed logs always reveals something fun, no matter the season. This overwintering bald faced hornet queen (Dolichovespula maculata) was found burrowed in the duff near Moose Hill Farm in December 2021. Not a hornet (genus Vespa) at all but an aerial yellow jacket, you have likely seen these aggressive social wasps nesting in enclosed paper structures dangling from trees or building overhangs. But social wasps such as bald faced hornets do more than sting- they hunt and kill insects to feed their growing young thus serving as effective and free pest control agents. They also feed on nectar, thus acting as pollinators for our wild flowering plants.

The life cycle of bald faced hornets resembles that of bumble bees. A mated female (queen) overwinters under tree bark or downed logs and emerges in spring. Once she finds a suitable nest site, she constructs a papery nest consisting of many cells. She lays a female egg into each cell which hatch into larvae. She feeds them insect protein until they pupate and emerge as worker wasps. The workers continue to build the nest and forage for their nest mates; the queen continues to lay more worker eggs. This sisterhood of foraging beasts grows until late summer when the queen begins laying male eggs along with female ones. These male and female wasps emerge and fly off to mate. The males and workers die and the newly mated queens find suitable overwintering sites.

📷: Moose Hill Farm, Sharon

10/16/2023

Waldo is helping me with a design.

07/29/2023

A client from Swampscott shared this photo with me. Yesterday, she took it from her house after the storms. I have never seen a rainbow like this.

07/09/2023

07/09/2023

A planting I have been working on in Swampscott

02/23/2023

Getting ready for spring.😎
New painting by Jean J Bastarache