My frontyard prairie is really taking off now... Clockwise: Blanket flower, flax, black eyed Susan, yarrow, and wallflower. All against a backdrop of green needle grass. #nativeplants#pollinatorgarden#yxe#Bloomscrolling
Fuzzy native bee waking up on fuzzy bloom. Six days to summer solstice, we're heading toward the 90sF. Don't give up on your pollinators, even if you're surrounded by leafblowers like me. Keep restoring and repairing habitat, whether by pot, plot, yard, or more. #bees#nativePlants
This lil Monarch chonk has now eaten the second Aquatic Milkweed down to its stems, save for one section of it. Hungry and happy. Hoping there’s enough left for it to pupate and do its thing
Commissioned by a graduating entomologist for her supervisor, this is an important local bee, Osmia Lignaria, known as the orchard mason bee, or blue orchard bee, in a lino block print on Japanese kozo (mulberry) paper with gorgeous, blue washi chine collé (collaged fine Japanese paper) pollinating a blueberry flower.
@plants #Alberta#MayPlantCount
Caltha palustris / Marsh Marigold - we always called them Cowslips, but no connection to the Engllish Primula by that name! I just call them Caltha, my only species locally...lol
They are abundant in seasonally/wet habitats here, both open and wooded. The colour varies only a little (biright yellow to nearly orange,) but flower size and sepal (not actually petals!) shape vary considerably. #Wildflower#NativePlants#CountryLiving#BloomScrolling#florespondence
Native bee trying to warm up on a Romneya petal. Today, we're almost 10F below average and expecting heat wave in a few days. Bee is possibly a Melissodes.
@violetmadder@stevenbodzin@futurebird Propagating #NativePlants is huge. I’m finally getting somewhere with my own yard, to the point where I’m going to be needing to export plants rather than add more.
The Slender Flower Longhorn Beetle in the photo is someone I’ve never seen before, and it seems to enjoy the New Jersey Tea — which has taken several years before finally blooming in earnest.
@plants Another for #Alberta#MayPlantCount
Antennaria species: not one of the small silver rosette Pussytoes, this one is also rosette and mat forming, but larger than the silvers, medium green leaves(they darken over the season) with white backs, and flowers are earlier than the silvers. This patch is beside the house, growing in a (not yet this year) mowed area with dandelions, clover, grass + #NativePlants Viola adunca, Fragaria virginiana, etc.#WildflowerHour#florespondence#nature
This is a solitary bee just starting its life. It visits these last Phacelia blooms over & over. Eventually, the bee will move over to other flower varieties that are coming on strong.
Diversity in plants & habitats makes the difference on this small scale. Native bees forage over hundreds of yards-not miles like honey bees.
You can do something: Garden for wildlife! If you own land, manage it as habitat. Add and grow lots of plants native to your area, which will feed birds and their babies. If you are anywhere near semi-natural areas, the land will heal itself over time, if you let it.