yellow loosestrife

 

Lonicera

The Lonicera is blooming, now through November.  This perennial vine is a favorite of hummingbirds.

culver's root

Culver's Root Veronicastrum virginicum is found growing in wetlands and wet prairies.

The individual flowers are comprised of four fused petals up to a half an inch long. A main spike at the top of the plant is surrounded by several other spikes of flowers. The flowers bloom from the bottom of the spike up.  Culver's Root is not bothered much by leaf-chewing insects or mammalian herbivores. The seeds are too tiny to be of much interest to birds.  However, many varieties of insects visit the flowers to collect pollen or drink nectar. 

(above left)  Culver's Root just before it blooms.

(above right) A Black Wasp drinks nectar from the flowers while hunting for prey items; their bodies are covered in fine hairs that also collect pollen.

(below) A Bumble Bee with bulging pollen pockets stops for just a few more from this blooming Culvers Root.

wildflowers blooming

 

nectar and pollen

Before June, dandelion flowers are one of a few important food source for pollinators, providing both nectar and pollen for bumblebees and honey bees. Other various insects like beetles, hoverflies and butterflies use the nectar as food. Some birds eat the seeds. 

purple asters

 

New England Asters

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

bloom along with the white and lavender 

colored asters around the pond. 

 They add to the display of riotous color

 in late summer.

bee on asters

 

The asters are abuzz with pollinators.  While standing among the wildflowers, I hear the buzzing as loud and pleasant.  There are many Panicled Aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum plants in the riparian area around the pond.  The nectar and pollen of the flowerheads attract many kinds of insects, including honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, and beetles.  I have not seen any Wild Turkey here, but they feed on the seeds and foliage of aster plants.  Maybe some day . . . 

evening primrose

The flowers of Evening Primrose Oenothera biennis close in the daytime when sunlight would heat them, and open later when dusk falls.

This plant is food for several butterfly and moth species larvae.

The seed pods that form along the stem are an interesting shape and structure, especially when dried.

Oenothera species are 'roadside' plants -- they grow well in disturbed soil like along railways, roads, and waste areas.

white wildflowers

Sitting near the pond, one can gaze out at flowering plants among the green grasses, rushes, and reeds.  Mountain Mint, Swamp Milkweed, and Queen Anne's Lace are among the ones blooming now. 

yellow loosestrife

Small yellow wildflowers, brightening the green grasses and rushes around the pond now, are River Loosestrife Lysimachia hybrida, or Lowland Yellow Loosestrife. This plant bloomed last year, and came back stronger with more stems this season.  Lysmachias produce floral oil rather than nectar.  These plants are also pollen hosts for Macropis bees; the bees specialize in using a mixture of pollen and floral oil to produce offspring.  read more at U of MN Extension 

goldenrod

 

To complement all the blue and purple flowers around the pond this week, the Goldenrod has unfurled its blooms.  Solidago species, commonly called Goldenrods, are in a genus of more than 100 species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae.

Goldenrods are often blamed for allergies, but they have sticky pollen and rely on insects to move most of it.  The wind borne pollen of ragweeds and pigweeds are to blame for 'hay fever' in late summer.

These plants are habitat for a large number of insect species. Blooming in late summer, they are a critical nectar source for many bees, butterflies, and moths to fortify themselves before freezing weather comes. 

ladybug on Mountain Mint

This Mountain Mint plant supplied a meal for a ladybug.  Ladybugs, or Lady Beetles, are in the coccinellids family of beetles, not bugs.  Most are predators -- they eat smaller insects.  They prefer insects that happen to be considered pests on plants.  This includes mites, white flies, and scale insects, but especially aphids.  When the aphids are all eaten on a given plant, Ladybugs quickly head to another plant or area to find more of their favorites.

Monarch butterfly caterpillars

The  rose flowers of Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata plants are blooming in several places along the shore around the pond.  Actually, the flowers can vary in color from soft mauve to dusty pink to soft crimson violet.  This milkweed attracts a profusion of butterflies and other pollinators who lap up its nectar.  The Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus uses the milkweed as its host plant. A host plant is where the butterfly will lays its eggs exclusively, because the larvae that hatch will have a ready supply of the only plant they will eat.  This Swamp Milkweed had two different size caterpillars feasting on leaves.  (In these photos, golden aphids share the sweetness of the plant.)

bees on thistle

Mountain Mint blooming

Blooming now in the riparian buffer around the pond - -  Virginia Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum virginianum.  Look for them as  2 or 3 foot tall bushy plants.  Because the individual flowers are tiny, this plant is an important food for short-tongued bees.  They can reach into the flowers easily to drink the nectar.  In the photo above, you can see the clusters of tiny white flowers with delicate purple spots.  The flowers open one at a time, providing nectar over many days.
Below, this subtle plant grows among yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil and daisy-like Fleabane.

alfalfa

Alfalfa Medicago sativa is another forage crop grown around the world. But it escaped and now commonly sprouts along roads and degraded or disturbed areas.  Also called lucerne or purple medic, Alfalfa adds its deep purple blooms to the wildflower palette around the pond.  Known for the remarkable productivity and quality of its herbage, the plant is also valued in soil improvement and is grown as a green manure.  We are glad it is present here to add its color and value to the pond area.

Alsike Clover

Clover is a forage crop around the world.  But it readily escapes cultivation, so it is common in meadows and in disturbed places.  This pond and surrounding wetland was disturbed during transition to a neighborhood, and some native plant seed was sown.  So, we have clover.

Alsike Clover Trifolium hybridum flowers are light pink turning darker pink with age, giving the head a distinct two-tone color pattern as lower blossoms on the globe mature first.

Clover is one of the main nectar sources for honeybees.  The resident Muskrats are very fond of clover.  We see them swimming across the pond, picking a bunch of clover stems and leaves with flowers, then swimming back across the pond to their burrow.

early meadow rue

Early Meadow Rue Thalictrum dioicum is also called Quicksilver Weed.  The small flowers will open into fuzzy clusters.  The foliage is a pleasing blue-green color.  This specimen is coming up among other plants hiding beneath the young trees.  Early Meadow Rue often likes moist partly shaded areas, so this one will thrive in the position it has chosen near the pond. 

I believe that plants actually move to where they can optimally survive.  If a seed falls in suitable habitat for the plant to thrive and reproduce, then it does so.  If the seed falls in a less-than-perfect place, then it withers. This way, plants move from generation to generation, even as the climate changes.

migrating painted ladies

The garden was aflutter last week with Painted Lady butterflies Vanessa cardui.  They were obsessed with the blossoms of Brazilian Vervain Verbena bonariensis.  Fortunately, the lavender blooms are abundant this year, probably self-seeded from last year's single pot of the plant.  I was beginning to think I had too many of the tall strong stems topped with airy umbrellas of tiny flowers.  Now, glad they invited the ladies to stop for refueling on their way south!

bee on cranesbill

While admiring the Cranesbill 'Karmina' in the gardens today, I noticed a fuzzy bee hurrying from one to another of the blooms that are just beginning to open.  I believe it is a Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica, commonly a nester in various types of wood; they eat pollen and nectar.