A nice Bombus impatiens on the mistflowers this morning.A second view where you can see pollen on legs!Nearby, the tropical sage is blooming nicely today.
Bisbee cowpeas flowering moreI liked the contrast on this one.“Stubby” variety of okra.An okra flower with a little sweat bee flying by!This is the first okra flower I’ve seen in person here since they seem to keep banker’s hours.A little green-striped cushaw squash!Leaf of the squash is looking a bit rough.Found another Madhu Ras melon! This one is bigger.Salvia greggii “Diane” purple cultivar has bloomed! Now only waiting on the orange part of rainbow garden to bloom.Whoa. I did not realize this cushaw squash was here!A male Sachem on a Peruvian ground cherry. There is a flower in the background so I hope it’ll start producing soon.Two immature fruits on Amish Paste tomato.I think this is one of my stratification butterfly milkweed that I planted directly! Very excited!A doodlebug (also known as an ant lion) trap waiting for some little critter to walk by! I feel very good about the predators in the garden right now, keeping plant-eaters in check, as I also saw a little brown snake slither away. We had a Dekay’s Brown Snake last year so it was probably that. May it be fat and happy on earwigs!One of the rosemary bushes is blooming!
A fine Toad hanging out in the raised beds! Eat those earwigs please!! (May already be doing so as I have not seen many lately.)Tomatillos Verdes doing well, I think I have enough now to make salsa verde enough to can.Took garden cucumber to work today for a snack with ranch dressing.Not entirely sure but I think a Bombus impatiens bumblebee on a loofah gourd flower. There were at least two of these bumbles around.Helper!
Roundup is starting to take effect on Bermuda grass. I can’t plant the buffalograss until I get that nasty invader out.A different bumblebee (or maybe robber fly mimic?? It flew different I thought) came to get water while I watered rainbow garden beds.Saturday morning dog. She is four years old as of Friday!Ironweed buds! Looking forward to the purple!Briar helping me garden on her birthday. Buffalograss corner of prairie is a good laying spot!I trimmed all the dying dill and cilantro out of the herb bed so I could see what’s going on with parsley, sage, and oregano better.
I am very honored to announce I have received one of the highest endorsements of my garden I can think of: we have a bumblebee nest!
They are in the wren house, in the abandoned nesting material.They look so much less round here than when out pollinating flowers, so much so that I tried to get closer for a confirmation photo.
So! That last picture, the bumblebee flying? Yes, well, I have found their limit is about a meter or so. Keep scrolling to see three of my four stings and one unlucky bumblebee that clung to me into the house and got squished in a panic, sadly. Content warning if you keep scrolling down: squished bee, reddish stings, puffy knuckle. No blood.
Briar was interested in an ice cube abandoned after Wes got out the more useful bag of frozen peas n carrots for me. Last chance to turn back from sad bee and sting pics!!!!Sting above knuckle on ring finger.Left arm stingRight arm sting. This was the unlucky and persistent bee we squished in house. I feel bad about that.We kept the dead bee for identification. Tentative identification by several people is American Bumblebee, Bombus pennsylvanicus.Front viewAnother above shot. Pattern of yellow and black seems to be how they are identified.This morning my two arm and one neck stings not too bad. Last night the arm ones hurt when bounced (ie when I took dog on her bike ride) and the knuckle hurt to flex. This morning the ring finger knuckle is very puffy and definitely hurts more to flex.Note how the affected knuckle doesn’t wrinkle up like all the others.Unaffected left ring knuckle for comparison.We’ve been walking by here all summer with no problems, but I decided to put a chair out for safety for now. Finger pointing at bees.You can see it’s on the way to the door to the garage. I think it should bee fine but for a few days at least I am going to go around!
Butterfly milkweed.Wild heliotrope.Had leaves like greenthread but a yellow center on flower.Compass plants all facing what we think was east.Bigger view of the compass plant valley.A megachilid bee on butterfly milkweed!A whole field of Echinacea!Rosa sp. I know this one. I’ll look it up. Edit: wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), thanks Mom 🙂Happy!!!!A Dun Skipper on prairie bluets.Asclepias viridiflora (thanks Abby and Mom!)Shade good for fluffy dog.Another view of the Echinacea field.Note the matching orange dog in background.I remember this plant.She tried to get humans to join her but we’re no fun.
