See the sleeping bumble bee atop a six-foot-tall spire of Blue vervain (Verbena hastata). Another bee slept in a neighboring spire. This photograph was taken an hour and a half after sunrise in the northeast, not yet risen over hills to this location. July 27, 2024, 7:24 a.m.
As the sun lifted over forested hills to the northeast, sun rays reached the vervain plants, warming sleeping bumble bees. I observed them stirring, awakening, climbing in the plants, beginning their work day. In other locations, not yet in full sun, the bees slept until 8 a.m. or later. I thought, “These bees start work at the same time as the human workforce.” July 27, 2024, 7:27 a.m.
Bumblebee awakening on Culver’s root flower (Veronicastrum virginicum), July 27, 2024, at 7:52 a.m. According to Ted Elliman, there are native and introduced populations of Culver’s root in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont—all rare. “Wildflower’s of New England,” a Timber Press field guide by Ted Elliman and the Native Plant Trust, is a treasure. The true species native plants growing in my garden were purchased locally. Check with Salisbury Nursery, Ward’s Nursery and Garden Center, and Windy Hill Farm and Nursery.
Red-spotted Wasps feeding on Boneset Flowers (Eupatorium perfoliatum) with clear-winged bumblebee, right, on August 15, 2024, at 2:34 p.m. New in my experience, pollinator wasps appeared on the lone boneset plant that had also spontaneously seeded itself in a garden bed.
Want to learn about Native Bees? Register now, Saturday, August 17, for today’s presentation at 11 a.m. at the Monterey Library. A few seats may still be available. Please register by emailing pollinators01245@gmail.com.
Fritillary Butterflies are attracted in great numbers to this planting of Swamp Milkweed blossoms on July 8, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. Fritillaries are recognized as the August 2024 Pollinator of the Month by the United States Forest Service (UFS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Search USDA website for more information. Fritillaries continue to be the most prominent butterfly I have seen this year and, along with bees, feeding where Eastern Tiger Swallowtails prevailed for decades.
While concerned about the swallowtails, I am heartened by a few Monarch butterflies sailing over the landscape and am reminded to look for a chrysalis where I recently observed a monarch caterpillar. This week, through the unlikely tangle of tomato vines, two hummingbirds, a male and a female, approached a tomato blossom in my line of sight: Their beaks nearly touched.
