megachilid bee Archives : Cast Iron Garden

A megachilid bee on Gaillardia pulchella (blanket flower or firewheel).

I repotted the lemon balm into a clay pot so I could use its plastic one. In the upper left I also put one winecup in the very long tall head shaped pot. The root system was starting to escape the sprouting cells so I should probably plant its friends soon too.

I needed a lot of medium to large plastic pots to put showy evening primrose (here in middle) and Maximilian sunflower (next pic) in actual soil.

These are the Maximilian sunflowers I’ve been pulling from the prairie area, where the main plant we moved was last winter. I was storing them to give away in a tub of water and soil, but they were looking sad, so I figured it was time for potting. There’s so many they are crowded, but whoever takes them can separate them out. They seem very, very hardy.

While I had my hands dirty I repotted the ashy sunflower (Helianthus mollis). I figure it can get much bigger in this pot, and then we can plant it in late summer to overwinter in its final location (to be decided).