Mandi Vaughn

05/20/2026

Cottonwood borer beetle on a stem in our old yard, one of the biggest and most striking beetles in North America.

At the time of taking these photos, I hadn't seen one since I was around 8 years old, spending hours with my face pressed up to the peeling cottonwood bark in our front yard, watching the ants and these black and white giants move around. My husband CJ and I found this one in 2022 near an old tree at our previous house in Lavon, TX. It had been 21 years between sightings for me.

It was such a cool shared experience.

A few things I learned looking into the Cottonwood borer beetle. They're one of the largest beetles in North America, reaching up to 1.5 inches, and their antennae are often longer than their entire body. The larvae live in cottonwood, poplar, and willow roots for two full years before emerging as adults, and once they emerge the adults only live about a month. That's a lot of waiting underground for a short month above it.

They also get mistaken constantly for the invasive Asian longhorned beetle, but cottonwood borers have way more white markings and solid black antennae.

The Asian longhorned has banded antennae and fewer spots. Worth knowing the difference if you ever spot one and want to report it correctly.

The small things are easy to miss if you're not looking. CJ was actually the one who spotted this beetle while we were walking the property at sundown. He just stopped and went, what is that? 21 years of waiting and he found it first.

Video of this one coming to my page soon.

05/19/2026

05/18/2026

Found this green lynx spider living on my lemon eucalyptus bush and had to share because the camouflage is honestly perfect. I almost missed it, and I was looking for bugs.

From what I have read, green lynx spiders (Peucetia viridans) are the largest lynx spider species in North America. They don't build webs to catch prey, they're ambush hunters. They sit very still on leaves and flowers, stalk across the plant, and pounce when something gets close. That cat like hunting style is where the lynx name comes from.

Those long black spines on their legs help them sense vibrations and grip prey.

The fact I didn't know until I went down the rabbit hole: they can spray venom out of their fangs as a defense mechanism, up to around 8 inches away. Harmless to humans, but a pretty cool trick for something the size of a quarter.

The honest part about having them in a pollinator garden is that they're not picky eaters. They'll take down moths, caterpillars, and pest insects, but Texas studies have actually found honey bees show up as one of their most commonly captured prey. So they're not strictly beneficial or strictly harmful. They're just doing their thing, and that's kind of how a real backyard ecosystem works. Not everything fits in a neat category.

It can stay. The lemon eucalyptus has plenty of leaves to share, and bonus, this is the same plant citronella style mosquito repellents come from, so she's living on a bug repellent and still finding things to eat. Backyard comedy.

05/16/2026

Going through old photos and found this calendula from our 2021 garden. The center of this flower pulled me in, those little red orange petals tucked inside all that yellow like a slow burning fire about to open up.

Calendula is one of those flowers I always tell people to grow if they haven't yet. Pollinators love it, the petals are edible and have been used in teas, oils, and skin salves for centuries, and it reseeds itself in most climates if you let a few flowers go to seed at the end of the season. Low effort, high return.

What's a flower you grew years ago that you've been meaning to plant again? I'm building my list for next season.