Taking time to watch the flowers

YogiTom

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Somewhat of a cheeky take on the old adage that you will be happier in life if you “take time to smell the roses”. But, in my line of work, sticking your snozz into a flower before looking isn’t the best idea.

That said, when I sit and observe the activity around the patches of native California flowers I have growing at home and at work, I’m always so thrilled because I’m likely to see something new.

Today, I observed no less than six unique species of native bees (two bumblebee species, a few carpenter bees, a long-horned bee, and two species of sweat bees), not to mention honeybees and wasps, all going crazy over a patch of Lacy phacelia we have planted along the driveway.

The last two natives, the sweat bees, are real treats for me because they are so hard to capture on film or even see sometimes. The common ones are skittish, which makes sense given they are only a few millimeters in length, and the ultra-greens I saw today were a first for me!

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This first photo is of a female Agapostemon texanum (Ultra-Green Sweat Bee) taking off from some of the aforementioned Lacy phacelia. The photo doesn’t do justice the beautiful jewel-like coloring she had!

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The second photo here is of an unknown Halictus spp. (common Sweat Bee), and was the first time I got so close before one flew off!

Both shot on an iPhone X with no zoom or filter added.

Just wanted to share the good feelings of seeing so many native pollinators thriving in my own backyard, and to encourage everyone to stop and observe some wildflowers the next chance they get. You’ll be surprised at the amount of life that a few flowers can support if you just stop to look!
 

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See how much your world opens up when your wife puts a stop to the UAS? ;)

I was surprised to learn recently, how so many bee looking insects are actually flies. The wings are a big tell, but I have to remember what I'm looking for...:confused:
 
See how much your world opens up when your wife puts a stop to the UAS? ;)

I was surprised to learn recently, how so many bee looking insects are actually flies. The wings are a big tell, but I have to remember what I'm looking for...:confused:

Perhaps, but I’ve always been drawn to nature. I just have more time for it, I guess. :)

And I spend most of my day explaining to visitors to the meadery that honeybees are the only bees that make honey, that they aren’t native to most places where they are found now, and that it was probably a wasp and not a bee that stung them that one time at summer camp. :rolleyes:
 
Bonus photo: one of the bumblebee species mentioned in my OP. They let you get sooooo close!
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Peonies the size of softballs in full bloom here in MA right now, as well as irises. My wife has serious BAS (Bloom Acquisition Syndrome), so we have bouquets like this all over the house. Roses will be next.

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Lovely! High on my “to grow” list are dahlias, but the deer in our area are pretty indiscriminate grazers...
 
Tom, I didn't know you were a bug guy.
Fantastic!
I used to use Integrated Pest Management, and part of it was knowing which beneficial species would dine on which harmful ones.
It looks like you know way more than I did.
Way to go!
 
Tom, I didn't know you were a bug guy.
Fantastic!
I used to use Integrated Pest Management, and part of it was knowing which beneficial species would dine on which harmful ones.
It looks like you know way more than I did.
Way to go!

Thanks! Honestly, Google and my local university extension have been incredible resources for learning more about what I observe at home and at work.

One of my all time favorite beneficial insects is the hover fly. They are important pollinators for native plants AND their larvae are aphid eating machines, consuming 100-200 per day!

The adults use Batesian mimicry, whereby they have adopted the yellow/black striped warning pattern of wasps and bees, despite being totally harmless to us and their predators.

Here is one on the seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) we have growing outside the tasting room at work.
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I got your point, but when I was simply watering my flowers with just water, there still were problems with insects and some flower diseases. Well, long story short I've got a great tool called hose end sprayer (one of these: https://cozyhousetoday.com/best-hose-end-sprayer-reviews/), that can spray herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides to keep my garden from these annoying pests. The hose end sprayer uses a sprayer or container nozzle, and it's absolutely great choice for those who really love their gardens.
 
Somewhat of a cheeky take on the old adage that you will be happier in life if you “take time to smell the roses”. But, in my line of work, sticking your snozz into a flower before looking isn’t the best idea.

That said, when I sit and observe the activity around the patches of native California flowers I have growing at home and at work, I’m always so thrilled because I’m likely to see something new.

Today, I observed no less than six unique species of native bees (two bumblebee species, a few carpenter bees, a long-horned bee, and two species of sweat bees), not to mention honeybees and wasps, all going crazy over a patch of Lacy phacelia we have planted along the driveway.

The last two natives, the sweat bees, are real treats for me because they are so hard to capture on film or even see sometimes. The common ones are skittish, which makes sense given they are only a few millimeters in length, and the ultra-greens I saw today were a first for me!

Yeah, some insects do a great job for flowers, and some insects do not.
 
I got your point, but when I was simply watering my flowers with just water, there still were problems with insects and some flower diseases. Well, long story short I've got a great tool called hose end sprayer (one of these: https://cozyhousetoday.com/best-hose-end-sprayer-reviews/), that can spray herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides to keep my garden from these annoying pests. The hose end sprayer uses a sprayer or container nozzle, and it's absolutely great choice for those who really love their gardens.

Hearing this makes me unbelievably sad.

If you care about keeping your garden healthy, I’d encourage you to stop using these unnecessary products. Not only are they harmful to just about every beneficial insect, they are also essentially poison, which repeated exposure to can and likely will cause some pretty bad health problems for you down the road.

Not only that, but herbicide like RoundUp (glyphosate) never leave the environment. This means that after the target “weeds” have died, the glyphosate molecules simply spread into surrounding soil and the water table instead of breaking down into something less harmful.

Please “bee kind” to our insect population; they have enough trouble surviving these days as it is without us spraying countless petrochemicals on their homes and food sources.

And be kind to yourself. Monsanto/Bayer may have massive settlements that they owe to those few folks who have sued them for health damages and won, but the risk of dying from some terrible cancer from using their products is enough to keep me far, far away.
 
Yeah, some insects do a great job for flowers, and some insects do not.

And?

Organic, non-spray, bee-friendly gardening is really not that hard. It takes practice and patience to deal with pests organically, but it is better for your native pollinators, your own personal health, as well as the health of our planet as a whole.

Check out ideas for garden planning that utilize integrative pest management. This doesn’t mean you let pests run rampant, but rather that you come to accept that your garden won’t look 1000% Instagram worthy, but you attract beneficial insiders like parasitic wasps, hoverflies, ladybugs, etc, who feast readily on most garden pests. It is about creating a balance, and a safe haven for predatory insects to live and thrive in your garden. If they are there, spraying shouldn’t be necessary except in extreme cases, and even then, plenty of organic sprays and treatments exist. Look for products marketed with the “OMRI” rating.

Of course, if you just spray petrochemicals, you’re killing off both the pests and their predators, making your garden a sterile one devoid of life (the worms in the ground don’t like these chemicals, either!) and likely more disease-prone, requiring even more spraying. It is a viscous cycle, and one you’d be better off not starting or continuing.
 
A few more share-worthy shots.

In order: Apis mellifera (Western honeybee) worker landing on some Centaurea cyanus (bachelor’s buttons or cornflower); a Xylocopa californica (California Carpenter bee) male on some Phacelia tanacetifolia (Lacy phacelia); a Xylocopa californica female taking off from the same patch of Phacelia tanacetifolia; and a Bombus vosnesenskii (Yellow-faced bumblebee) worker on some Calamintha (calamint).

No sprays or inorganic treatments in our garden means I have ample opportunity to see these magnificent creatures up close on a daily basis. They can’t help themselves when the nectar is so good. :shaka:

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Edit: somehow managed to attach a random photo of another Bombus species visiting some Agastache (lemon hyssop in this case). Notice her long, curved proboscis, or straw-like tongue, which she was just using to slurp up some nectar before this shot was taken.

If you couldn’t tell, I love bees.
 

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I have a love/hate relationship with nature - I love to see insects, animals, plants, particularly in the summer when everything is as alive as it's possible to be, but hayfever and allergies make life less than ideal at this time of year.

We have a field right out the back of the house, another one directly across the road, we're surrounded by nature and some of the things we see are great (buzzards soaring overhead, wrens and great tits nesting, blue tits, chaffinches, foxes, pheasants, the list goes on and on), but on days like today (a glorious, blue sky, once-in-a-blue-moon summer day in Britain), one can almost scoop the pollen from the air with a net.

Amazing to see so many different types of bee, YogiTom - some great shots.
 
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