Native Gardening

[JBtheExplorer]

Finally seeing some butterfly activity in my garden!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The sunflowers are still blooming

And more butterflies!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

A few photos from this morning.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

A few weeks back I mentioned that I sent Prairie Moon Nursery a few photos of plains sunflower to use on their website. I was just doing it because I love their website and wanted to help them out, but they ended up giving me some store credit in return. It was really perfect timing because I was planning on buying some seed packets anyway. Thanks to them, I ended up ordering five seed packets and one 1/8th ounce packet of another.

Woodland sunflower - I ordered a packet of these in spring, and rushed to stratify and germinate them, but couldn't get them to grow. I still had some seeds left over, but not many so I ordered this second packet to make success more likely. It's a late-summer bloomer that tolerates partly-shaded areas, and I definitely could use more of that.

Wild golden glow - Another late-summer bloomer that likes a wide variety of light conditions, most often seen in partly-shady areas in the wild. I'm going to likely plant it in the same place I plant woodland sunflower. They're both aggressive so they can battle each other and hopefully help prevent a monoculture. I ordered a 1/8th ounce of this specie since it was only a dollar more for quite a few more seeds.

Zig zag goldenrod - I've been working to add more goldenrod to my yard because it's such an important plant for pollinators. This is yet another plant that falls in the same "late summer, partly shady" category.

Tall thimbleweed - I don't know, it just seemed like a good choice. I'm not actually sure what my plan for this specie is yet. It grows from full sun to shade so it gives me room to work with.

Virginia waterleaf - I've seen it on plenty of lists regarding important springtime plants for emerging queen bumblebees, so I had to try adding it to my yard. It's can be an aggressive specie, although I don't think my yard has ideal conditions for it, so we'll see what happens.

Sundial lupine - I tried adding this a decade ago and then learned that most "wild lupine" was sold as the wrong specie even if it was marked as the correct specie. Mine was the wrong one, so I ripped it all out. This is the real native specie here. I'm planning on trying to grow it in a hot, sunny area along the fence by my pond. It's another good springtime plant for the bees. But really, I'd just like to have it because it grows in the Scuppernong Prairie, which I've visited so many times over the years, even when I was a kid. It'd be fun to see in my own garden.

I also may add a few more species next year too, but I haven't decided yet.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

You can't make this up:

On the very same day I receive wild golden glow seeds in the mail, guess what I found in my garden? I seeded a small amount of wild golden glow like 5 years ago and nothing ever grew. I tried starting some indoors and some right in the garden and had zero success. I monitored it for three years and never found anything. Fast forward to about 20 minutes ago when I find this mysterious young plant in my garden. I go to ID it and sure enough, it's wild golden glow!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Orange sulphur

Red-belted bumble bee

Brown-belted bumble bee

Rusty-patched bumble bee

Peck's skipper

Ambush bug

Monarch

 

[JBtheExplorer]

It just keeps going... the pollinator activity in my garden the past two days has been unbelievable! I have like 15-20 butterflies of 6 different species, at least 5 species of bumble bees, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Red-belted bumble bee

Lemon cuckoo bumble bee

Brown-belted bumble bee and peck's skipper

Summer azure

Pugnacious leafcutter bee

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The pollinator party continues!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Eastern tiger swallowtail - dark morph

Mating cabbage whites

Skipper corpse

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Eight of the twelve total monarchs visiting meadow blazing star.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Seven in this photo, but ten total this morning.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

So much false sunflower!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Hummers

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Moth caterpillar camouflaged to look like leaves and other plant materials.

Soldier beetle has no clue.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Shadow darner. A first in my yard!

Pearl crescent

Ambush bugs