Tag Archives: Biodiversity

Pruning, Fretting, and Photos

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My July garden is humming and buzzing along. With regular rain, and hot–but not yet scorching–typical Texas temperatures, pollinators, birds, and other assorted critters are rejoicing in the bounty of blooms and seeds. The garden is doing what it’s supposed to do: feed wildlife.

Summer is also a good time to reflect (ahem, gnash teeth and fret) about mistakes in the garden. I excel at gnashing and fretting, it’s one of my best things: Why did I plant that there–what was I thinking?? How have l let that beloved, beautiful plant become such a garden bully? That being said, this summer I haven’t spent much time in the garden until recently. Six to eight weeks before our toasty summer moves aside for…less toasty late summer /early autumn, light pruning and dead heading chores a good idea, and as I go, I plan for changes to the garden. While I’m noting problems and tidying messes, I appreciate the garden, where it is and what’s in it, at this moment in time.

American Bumblebees, Bombus pensylvanicus, abound! They’re favoring the remaining American Basket Flowers, Centaurea americana, but also visit the Mexican Orchid tree blooms and other flowers in the Aster family.

I caught this small, green metallic Sweat bee, Halictidae, as it rapidly zipped from flower to flower of the Cenizo shrub, Leucophyllum frutescens. Often called ‘Barometer Bush’ the lavender flowers appear when there is rain possibility. My shrub has bloomed fairly consistently this summer, to the delight of many winged things–and this gardener!

I was observing one of my favorite kinds of bees, the Horsefly-like Carpenter Bee, when I spied this curious character.

I knew it was a fly of some sort, rather than a bee, owing to its one pair of wings and its short antennae, and those impressive eyes. But what kind? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this insect before. Within a couple of clicks, I came across BugGuide’s page on the Southern Bee Killer, Mallophora fautrix. I love the way my bee killer clutches the stem, the rosy flowers of Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, as colorful companions in the background. And that face, it’s adorable! The fuzzy legs look like they’re ready to spring into action–and they probably did, though I didn’t see it happen. According to information about bee killers, they perch on stems, awaiting a chance at hapless prey, ready to pounce on mostly honeybees and wasps. Well, my garden certainly has plenty of both kinds of meals for this dude. Good eating, bud!

The honeybee population in my garden is somewhat diminished as one of our hives, Woody, absconded earlier in June. If you’d like to read about absconding, this article is a good resource. At Woody’s previous hive check, all seemed well: there was capped and uncapped larvae, indicating a healthy, active queen, and some honey was being made. At the next hive check, shortly before we traveled in mid-June, there was no activity. Nothing. The bees were gone; they ate all the honey before they left, they didn’t say why they left, nor did they leave a forwarding address! I suspect they left because of some heavy rain, but only the bees know why they took off for different digs. I hope they landed in a safe place. Bees abscond sometimes (rain, or heat, or…whatever), but it’s a bummer for a beekeeper. Still, having one hive (which is thriving) to check on every two weeks makes hive checks quicker and I don’t mind that during the hot summer.

There are butterflies in my garden, but only this Large Orange Sulphur, Phoebis agarithe, deigned to stay relatively immobile for long enough to snap a pic. These yellows, and their smaller yellow cousins, are common in the late summer and autumn garden.

This coming week is a week of rain. Rain in July, what a concept! I’ve pruned some plants, now they’ll flush out with renewed glory. I’ve even transplanted some plants–a rarity in mid-summer–and those might just survive. The garden continues its production for summer and is preparing for a new season in just a few short months.

Pollinator Week

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Hosted by Pollinator Partnership, June 17-23 is a week to celebrate pollinators in the garden. It’s easy to nurture a pollinator garden: plant flowers and the pollinators will come. Every season provides opportunities to grow plants that pollinators need for survival. Some pollinators are common throughout the growing season, while others appear only when certain flowers are available. Still others are migratory, showing up in the garden as they travel to other destinations to complete their life cycles. Pollinators add beauty and movement to a garden, and are indicator species of a healthy ecosystem; good gardeners always strive for a healthy ecosystem. Choose native plants in your garden, if available, but many non-native plants are excellent pollinator providers. Seasonal wildflowers, perennials and shrubs, as well as flowering trees will all attract and sustain pollinators of every stripe, wing, and kind. Pollinator insects include beetles, bugs, bees, flies, butterflies and moths. And don’t forget that bats and birds also pollinate.

So if you want something like this:

Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus on Zexmenia, Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida

…or this:

Honeybee on Spiderwort, Spiderwort sp.

…or these:

Honeybee and Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus, on Gregg’s Mistflower, Conoclinium greggii

…or this:

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta on American Basket Flower, Centaurea americana

…or these:

Two different native bees on Four-nerve Daisy, Tetraneuris scaposa

…or these:

Checkered White, Pontia protodice (R) and Dainty Sulphur, Nathalis iole (L) on Zexmenia bloom

…or this:

Queen Butterfly, Danaus gilippus, on Blue Curls, Phacelia congesta

…use native and well-adapted plants in your garden and the pollinators will come.

Insects and plants evolved together and form an interdependent partnership. Good gardeners accept that plants are eaten by beneficial insects, including those that become pollinators. So a little garden patience is required, understanding that some plants will show foliage damage–and that’s just fine. In particular, native plants are resilient and a little foliage munching by a pollinator juvenile won’t kill the plant.

Before they become jeweled and winged things, butterflies and moths are caterpillars, like this stripey beauty, an Eastern Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, caterpillar or larva. It will eat and eat, then grows and grows. Yes, the very hungry caterpillar causes some damage to the foliage, as well as leaving some poop, but look at that fat, healthy caterpillar!

Fennel is a host plant for Eastern Black Swallowtails

In time, a nice home will chemically form for the transformation from larva to adult butterfly.

Eventually, the adult insect emerges and joins the throngs of other pollinators in the diverse and thriving garden, nectaring from a wide array of plants, for both its and the plants’ benefit.

Eastern Black Swallowtail on American Basket flower

Pollinator gardening is a win for everyone! Pollinator gardening is easy, rewarding, and will usher the gardener to observe and appreciate a whole new community–right on their own plot of the Earth.

If you plant them, they will come.

Happy pollinator gardening!

A Lost Boat

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A new-to-me bird has visited the back garden this past week. I thought it kinda looked like a grackle, but it’s larger than either the Common Grackle or Great-tailed Grackle that are the usual grackle suspects here in Central Texas. Also, it has a mottled coloring, which I assume means either a juvenile or a female bird. It likes water. A lot. From the waterfall and bog of the pond, to the shallow bird baths nearby, this bird likes to bathe, spending most of its time splashing and dipping its impressive beak.

And look at those big feet!

I checked my go-to resource for all about birds and Cornell Lab of Ornithology identifies this fella as a Boat-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus major; the Merlin app categorized this bird as rare for Central Texas.

This is the Cornell map of Boat-tails’ range and it’s clear that this Boat is out of its normal stomping and bathing grounds. Along the east coast of Texas, some hundreds of miles east of my garden, one blob of blue indicates a non-breeding area for these birds, and nearby, a smidge of lavender, which is part of the Boats’ breeding range. Neither of these are anywhere near my pond!

I wonder how and why this juvenile male Boat-tailed Grackle wandered so far away from home?

He’s a bit aggressive with other birds, particularly the White-winged Doves (who are a bit aggressive themselves), though that might just be the teenager in him. I like how he looking at the dove, who who managed to plop itself in the cooling spillway of the pond’s waterfall ahead of Mr. Boat.

If looks could kill…

A nice rear view shows the tail feathers, which are beginning their turn to rich, luscious black that he will carry as an adult. Adult Boat-tailed Grackles are handsome birds, particularly the males with their long, dramatic tails, glossy in sunshine. Females are smaller and copper colored, though sweet-looking in their own way.

While perhaps not the prettiest bird in the back garden at the moment, this juvenile male does exhibit a kind of presence that foreshadows his adult self. Bright-eyed, strong of beak and profile, these birds are good-sized songbirds.

Along with bathing, he has eaten safflower and sunflower seeds on the ground. Grackles are also known for their preference for garbage, though currently, I’m not offering that delicacy for him.

It was interesting to see him hanging out, but I hope he finds his way back home to a mate and community. Fly to the coast Mr. Boat–where your birds are!