Tag Archives: Bees

An Un-tended Native Flower Garden

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I unfortunately have been unable to “take care” of my native flower garden this year.  In fact, today (June 14) was the first day since weed-whacking the entire garden last fall, that I got up the courage to take a look at what has come back up this year. I was pleased to find so many old friends doing not too badly.  Hopefully my untended garden will still be a haven for bees and butterflies.

The first thing I noticed was a row of Butterfly Weed.

B Weed mid June

Then I took a look at my Common Milkweed patch.  It is definitely thriving, now coming into full bloom with bees all over it.

C milkweed 06:14

milkweed with bee

The Culver’s Root has re-appeared, very tall this year and just beginning to look like Culver’s Root.

Culvers root 06:14

The Purple Coneflowers are just coming into bloom.

P Coneflower 06:14

The Daisy Fleabane is pretty much in bloom now.

Daisy Fleabane mid-june

I THINK this is the New York Ironweed that I planted last year.

NY Ironweed mid-June

A tiny bit of very early goldenrod is already in flower.

early goldenrod mid-june

Notably absent or still quite small:

 

M fistulosa 06:14

M. fistulosa mid-June 2016

  • Sweet Joe-Pye Weed.  I may see small amounts of it coming up, but apparently not thriving. This is another one I miss because it attracted so many bees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now It’s Green-headed Coneflower Time in Virginia

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At last (late July – early August) the green-headed coneflowers (GHCF) — Rudbeckia lacinata — are blooming.

By now (08/01/14) the spring bloom of the garden is almost totally gone. The boneset is blooming throughout and the GHCF are standing tall at the back.  (In another post I’ll discuss the current “weedy” state of the garden.)

The Garden as of 08/01/14

The Garden as of 08/01/14

Whereas the Monarda attracted large bees, the GHCF attacts tiny bees. Here’s a view of the GHCF closer up in late July.  Although there are a swarm of insects on the flowers, you can’t make them out in this photo.

Green-headed Coneflower Closer Up

Green-headed Coneflower Closer Up

In this REALLY close-up view, not quite in focus, you can see 3 little bees if you look carefully.

Close-up with 3 Tiny Bees

Close-up with 3 Tiny Bees

Finally, in this short video, you can see some bees buzzing around the flowers (you may need to watch it a couple of times to be sure to catch the bees — if you’ve ever had a visual field test this is a little bit like that):