Nebraska Extension in Knox County

Looks like mayflies are emerging from area lakes and streams.  The mayfly is an interesting insect. The adults, which is what you are seeing, do not feed and only live for a few hours or days, just long enough to mate and the females to lay eggs back into the water. The emergence from the water is fairly well synchronized and only lasts a few days, when literally millions emerge nearly at once. They do not have functional mouthparts and do not bite. Most of its life is spent as a nymph in the water. Lewis and Clark Lake has big hatches every year but some are bigger than others. 

  Most trees with petaled flowers, like crabapple and redbud, finish blooming in May. We have three trees in bloom now that do have petals. These are catalpa, linden and Japanese tree lilac.

  First I’ll explain what I mean by petaled flowers. Not all flowers have petals. They have other flower parts, but no petals. Trees whose flowers have no petals are wind pollinated and do not need to attract pollinators.

   Lucky for us, some trees have colorful petals to help attract pollinators.  While most are fruit trees or small ornamental trees, those blooming now are good size shade trees. And we need large trees in our communities.