Asters are no longer asters, they are in the genus Symphotrichtum, unless they are Eurybia, and there are dozens of species. They are all harassed-looking daisy-types with 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ flowers, heart shaped leaves or lance-like leaves, in varying shades of murky blues and purples and whites and pinks. […]
Pollinators
September and early October 2024 Highlights
(I struggled with image classes on this post and think I fixed them but apologies if a later update blows out my edits. I’ll fix it. Eventually.) Above: Bottle gentians, blue, late blooming, good cut flowers–in particular with late flowering orange and yellow daisy-shaped flowers and dahlias. Native. Allegedly attractive […]
Identified, unidentified, and misidentified pollinator visitors – Summer 2023
A few of this summer’s visitors to the flowers–working on getting better at identifying pollinators and beneficials. (Click in to navigate through large images.)
Beneficial insects: Five banded tiphiid wasp
Seen today on a black eyed susan. If I’m correct about the ID, it’s a female (the red legs are the tell apparently.) From the link: “Females of some species of Thynnid wasps are wingless. Males find them on the ground and carry them into the air on a nuptial […]
Pollinator garden, drafts 1, 2, 3…..
One of the front pollinator beds was added in April 2020. At roughly 4′ x 15′, it contains twelve Golden Alexanders (host plants for black swallowtails and food source for a lot of the little solitary bees) and twelve Bottle Gentians, both from Prairie Nursery. There’s a birdhouse at the […]