This week is the 4th annual National Pollinator Week, designated as such by the United States Department of Agriculture to call attention to the declining populations of natural pollinators. The decline is largely due to urbanization and use of chemicals. Gardeners can help the plight of the pollinators by planting host plants and pledging to garden organically whenever possible.
In celebration of calling attention to the pollinators - bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, and bats - I'm showcasing some of them at work here at Our Little Acre:
Bumblebee heading for Perennial Foxglove
Great Spangled Fritillary on Echinacea
Question Mark resting on a stepping stone
Summer Azure on Knautia macedonica
Honeybee on Echinacea
Viceroy resting on the split-rail fence
There are other butterflies flying about here - Red Admiral, Monarch, Silver Skipper, Mourning Cloak, Sulphur, Red-Spotted Purple, Yellow Swallowtail - as well as insects and birds galore. I love how gardening makes you so much more aware of these things.
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This post was inspired by Barbara at Mr. McGregor's Daughter. Please visit her latest post, which shows more of the fabulous photography she shares with us on a regular basis.
"Bejeweled"
8 comments:
Cool post! I'm loving the bumble bees flying around this year!
Marvelous photos of these oh so valuable pollinators.
Very nice! It is amazing when you take the time to look, just how many different pollinators you can find in the garden.
Amazing variety, I love that you are attracting the pollinators, I do the same - try my best to get the insects in or rather, provide food for them!
Fantastic photos! I can't get a single butterfly or even a bee to stay put for a minute while I take a picture. and so many different kinds. You're doing a great job of providing good plants for them obviously.
I am definitely a big fan of the pollinators! Our neighborhood feral honeybee hives collapsed last fall, but there's a new hive being built, so we're all hoping for success. It's been far too quiet in my garden this year.
The bumblebees go absolutely crazy for my hypericum 'Sun Pat'. It's a deciduous, shrub-like version of St. John's with fabulous blue foliage. It is planted in my butterfly garden with vitex, lantana, bronze fennel, milkweed and agastache -- a great gathering place for pollinators.
Freda
How beautiful Kylee. I would love to see a Question Mark butterfly here. They are marked so pretty.
I love spotting pollinators in the garden, we have all kinds.
Funny thing is we have 2 hives of honeybees in the back garden, but I rarely see them in our gardens. Mostly hummingbirds, bumblebees and tiny solitary bees.
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