Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
This week is National Pollinator Week and to continue my series of posts about pollinators and insects in our wildlife gardens, this post will feature the breathtaking native bees that visit our wildlife gardens. Previous posts in this series: Fantastic Flies, Wonderful Wasps and Beguiling Beetles With approximately 4000 species of native bees in North [...]
Mesquite is marvelous in myriad ways. Mesquites grow into large and lush shade trees. Mesquite wood adds special flavoring to foods over a barbecue, plus it is a dense wood, ideal for hot, slow burning fires. Native peoples long ago discovered that mesquite trees provide wonderful wood for building homes and shady arbors. The early [...]
June is the time to honor pollinators for all the benefits they bring to us and to the ecosystems. We often hear that we owe them one bite out of three of our food. What is rarely mentioned is that much wildlife also owes them a significant amount of their nourishment. Just think about all [...]
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis is one of the first wildflowers to flower in the spring. The showy white petals are over two inches in width and open fully on sunny, warm, spring days. Flowers close up at night as temperatures drop and look like white candlesn with the solitary blue-gray leaf wrapped around the stem acting [...]
Vines, any vines, are great in the garden. Three reasons. First of all, vines need very little root space to flourish, thus they can fit in even the smallest yard. Second, many vines have beautiful flowers, and the bloom period can last for months, offering an opportunity to fill your yard with color. Third, and [...]
In an earlier post on bumble bees, I promised to talk about other aspects of bumble bees’ lives. I assure you that I am barely beginning to scratch the surface of all the interesting things these little creatures are capable of. Pollinator watching could be a hobby just as entertaining as bird watching. At least [...]
I had great success last season with cavity-nesting bees using the hollow plant stems I collected and placed in various parts of yard. I am reminded as I wait for spring that many of the plant stems sticking up through the snow may already be filled with broods of larvae ready to emerge this spring. [...]
Most people hate or fear insects with just a few exceptions. Bumble bees have enough charisma to be loved, at least by children. You find children’s books, toys, and Halloween costumes about bumble bees. Perhaps what makes them acceptable is their fuzzy roundish appearance reminiscent of a tiny bear. This positive image is reinforced by [...]
Beetles are a very diverse insect order and many beetles are frequent flower visitors; they are pollinators, beneficial insects predating on problem insect populations such as aphids, as well as parasitoids of other flower visitors. See similar posts about Fantastic Flies and Wonderful Wasps The two most common flower visitors are soldier beetles (Cantharidae family) [...]
Last month I featured some wonderful wasps that share our landscapes with us. Continuing on with this theme, this month I want to show you some of the many fantastic flies that call our wildlife gardens home, and why we should appreciate them more. Flies belong to the very large insect order Diptera, which means having [...]
