I tried taking some photos after 8:30 PM in late June.  These pictures are somewhat out of focus but have an “unwordly” (impressionistic?) quality, with the whites and yellows seeming almost luminous. — Robin

The Garden in Late Evening Light

Culver’s Root Late Evening

The more bees that visit my garden, the more I feel that my gardening efforts are successful.

Here are some of my “better” pictures of flowers being visited by bees.  (In some cases, you may have to look pretty closely to spot the bee.)

Bee on Black-eyed Susan – Some Species of Leafcutter?

I love the species name of  “Bombus” for the bumblebees.  Somehow nothing else would be so appropriate.

Bee on Penstemon – Bumble Bee

Bee on Purple Cone Flower

Closer view  of bumblebee on coneflower:

Bumblebee on Purple Coneflower

Bombus again:

Bees on Common Milkweed

Bee on Goldenrod

According to the book Pollinators of Native Plants by Heather Holm, wild bergamot is one of the best forage plants for bumblebees.

Bee on Monarda

Here’s a video where you can see some “bee action” on the Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot).

Last year my “garden” sort of limped along but this year everything grew very tall and thick!  These pictures show what has come to flower by the end of June.

This is my favorite picture of the back part of my “back garden.” Here you can see Daisy Fleabane, Black-eyed Susans, Milkweed  and Purple Coneflowers.

Back Garden in June, 2014

Here’s another “long shot” with a different view of the garden.

I like this picture because it shows how tall my Sweet Joe Pye Weed (still coming into bloom in late June)  has gotten this year:

Sweet Joe Pye Weed with Coneflowers

The Monarda fistulosa has gotten really tall this year and swarms with bees but I’ll be darned if I can manage to photograph those bees.  They just won’t hold still for me!  I plan to publish another post of pictures where I managed to catch a bee on something!

Monarda fistulosa in bloom

BUT here’s a video of Bees on Monarda.  I apologize for it’s being “sideways.”  I’ll replace it as soon as  I can. (Actually, if you’re viewing this on an iPhone, just turn the phone sideways and everything is oriented correctly then,)

Finally, I was pulling something up that I considered to be a “weed-weed” (I happen to love “weeds”) when it occurred to me it was quite pretty and I didn’t know what it was so why was I pulling it up?  My friend Suzette later identified it as “Venus’ Looking Glass.” It’s only about a foot tall.  According to the Internet, it’s a native throughout the lower 48 states and serves as a nectar and host plant to many different insects.  It supposedly is “aggressive,” but I’m not pulling it up anymore. – Robin

Venus’ Looking Glass

There ARE Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars inside the leaf rolls!  (See “Spicebush Leaves are Getting Rolled Already” post below.)  A friend helped me unroll a couple of leaves and there they were!  We let the leaves roll back up so the little caterpillars were “safe” again.  (The caterpillars generate a white sticky substance — you can see it in these pictures — that keeps the rolls closed up.) – Robin

Baby Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar inside a Leaf Roll

Another one:

Another Baby Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

This picture is from Robin’s yard in Virginia.  It shows that in mid-June the leaves are already being rolled — someone is inside each roll.  Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars?  She’s afraid to open up the rolls completely to get a good look at what’s inside.  We’ll have to wait to see what emerges.

Spicebush Leaves are Getting Rolled by Somebody