Pollinators are animals which transport pollen from one plant to another aiding in the plant’s reproduction – creating seeds & fruits. Common pollinators include insects (especially bees), butterflies, moths, birds, bats and small mammals. Pollinators are important for a healthy ecosystem & critical to many food crops, but are often lacking in urban gardens &
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These natives won’t stop blooming! Late Monarch Butterfly feeding on October blooming Spiderwort. With little care, native plants can add a rainbow of color to the garden all season long. With occasional deadheading & cutting back, the following native perennials all have bloomed for over 15 weeks. Most are still blooming as of today (mid
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Fall is Blooming! Sedum (Sedum telephium ‘Autumn Joy’) Toad Lily (Tricyrtis formosana ‘Samurai’) non-native, but plays well with others. Bugbane (Cimicifuga ‘Chocoholic’) Smooth Aster (Aster laevis ‘Bluebird’) Dwarf Goldenrod (Solidago ‘Little Lemon’) Fall Aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii ‘Henry III’)
The Native Flowers are in full bloom! Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae ‘Alma Poetschke’) Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) False Sunflower (Heliopsis) Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum) Grey-Head Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Western Sunflower (Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’) Stokes’ Aster (Stokesia laevis)
Celebrate our Pollinators! In conjunction with National Pollinator Week, Michigan recently adopted their own resolution! Adopted by Senate, March 16, 2011 Senate Resolution No. 25. A resolution proclaiming June 20-26, 2011, as Michigan Pollinator Week. Celebrate Michigan Pollinator Week & help sustain our beneficial native pollinators by planting native flowers (75% of all flowering plant
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It’s Beginning to Look like Summer Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) Beebalm (Monarda didyma) Stonecrop (Sedum sp.) Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis) Tickseed (Coreopsis ‘Tequila Sunrise’)
Don’t Swat That Fly! Common Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata) on Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ Flies are often thought of as pests, living in garbage & decay, but in fact flies are among the most common anthophilous insects. Although flies are not as hairy as bees, making them less effective at carrying pollen, research indicates that
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Don’t squash this bug! Leschenaultia sp. Tachinid flies are amongst the largest families of true flies with approximately 8,000 species world wide. They are generally solitary and are about the size of a housefly, but can be quite diverse in appearance. Although the more noticeable tachnids with their big bristly abdomens look as though they
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Don’t squash this bug Beetles were among one of the first order of insects to pollinate flowers and still play an important role in pollination today. Adult Red-necked False Blister Beetles -Asclera ruficollis are commonly found in woodland areas from March – May. They feed on pollen of spring wildflowers. Please refrain from using insecticides
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Better Late Than Never! Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Firewitch’ (Non-native, but plays well with others) Cornus sericea -Red Osier Dogwood Dicentra cucullaria -Dutchman’s Breeches Helleborus ‘Golden Sunrise’ (Non-native, but plays well with others) Acer rubrum -Red Maple