Tag Archives: Wildlife Gardening

A Few Autumn Pollinators

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While it still feels like summer (101F on Sunday!), autumn is here. The garden is lush with blooms, marking the second spring that Central Texas enjoys, the welcome blooming bonanza which is the payoff for our long, hot summers. It’s also very dry here; there’s been little rain since sometime in July. I don’t water the garden all that often, but I’m doing so this week.

The pollinators don’t mind either the heat or the drought as long as pollen and nectar are in good supply. I’m witnessing a huge variety of pollinators, all zipping (some crawling!) from bloom to bloom, filling the garden air with whiffs of wings and buzzes galore.

Plenty of American Bumblebees are gathering up pollen for overwintering nests. This one works the rich blue flowers of Henry Duelberg Sage, Salvia farinacea, ‘Henry Duelberg’.

Take a look at her pollen pantaloons! (Correctly known as corbiculae.)

The big showy butterflies are also active. This Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes nectars on luscious flowers of a Mexican Orchid tree, Bauhinia mexicana, the expansive, graceful wings carrying the insect from flower to flower.

Clusters of diminutive white blooms on Evergreen Sumac, Rhus virens, hosts scads of beetles, native bees, skippers, bigger butterflies, and honeybees.

This sumac is now two years old, just over 5 feet tall, and producing its first set of blooms. I’m loving it, as are the pollinators.

I’m not absolutely sure what this handsome critter is, but my best guess is that it’s a Blue-winged Wasp, Scolia dubia. Autumn flowering Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, lures the most interesting and varied pollinators; everyone seems to love these snowy blooms. Many of the pollinators who make their pilgrimage to frostweed in fall are nowhere in the garden at other times of the year. There’s always something that I’ve never seen before.

It’s nice when pollinators share mealtime!

Few Monarch butterflies have come through my garden as they make their way to Mexico and those that have visited were unwilling to participate in photo sessions, wings swooshing away from me in annoyance. Their cousins, Queen butterflies, Danaus gilippus, are common and active and don’t mind a photo–as long as their sipping of the sweet stuff isn’t interrupted. This two-fer spent time on the Plateau goldeneye, Viguiera dentata.

Texas Craglily, Echeandia texensis, attracts bees to its yellow-orange lilies. In particular, bumblebees excel at the hanging-upside-down trick.

Honeybees also grab onto the the stamens of craglilies for their share of pollen and nectar.

Cheerful pink Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, bobs in the background.

A significant cool front is headed our way, tomorrow and the rest of the week thankfully cooler. No rain is in the foreseeable future. I’m glad my garden is drought-tolerant, packed with native and well-adapted plants, and I’m pleased that it is a respite for wildlife. All wildlife–pollinators included–and this gardener, appreciate the bounty and beauty that these plants offer, especially in stressful times.

Dashing

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This beautiful Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis, danced and pranced with a partner over the pond, alighting and resting on a sun-crisp tip of a Pickerel Rush leaf. I’m not sure whether the partner was a potential mate or a rival in territory, but it also sported a rich blue/green exoskeleton, though didn’t perch where I might easily observe its beauty.

Wings sparkle in the early autumn sun, head swivels in response to large eyes watching for prey of small flying insects. These dragonflies (in the skimmer family) are not pollinators, but skilled predators in the garden, eating a large variety of insects, including mosquitoes and various flies.

Later in the afternoon, in different light, the skimmer was still around. Its azure and jade buddy was missing; perhaps it had moved on to another watering hole.

Late summer and autumn, until our temperatures turn significantly cooler, these insects will rule the airspace around the pond.

Berry Brunch

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This arching, medium-sized shrub, an American Beautyberry, Calicarpa americana, is laden with luscious purple berries, though the berries won’t be on their stems for long.

Beautyberries are food for a host of critters, but in my garden, it’s mostly mammals and birds who love these ridiculously purple fruits. Recently I watched as a couple of young, peckish male House Finches spent time enjoying the fruits of the shrub’s labors.

As I observed their brunch munching, I didn’t think they were particularly messy eaters, but I guess berry parts and juice will get stuck on beaks.

I like this shot. It looks like the berry is speared onto the bottom of the bird’s beak. Well, who hasn’t had that problem?

Late summer, moving toward autumn, many berrying native plants here in Central Texas reach their zenith in food production and beauty. I grow only one beautyberry shrub, but two Roughleaf Dogwood trees, Cornus drummondii, have their homes in my garden. The older, larger tree’s berries ripened in August and were quickly made into meals, stems now reaching out as if they miss their spherical hats.

The younger, smaller tree still offers a few clusters of creamy fruits.

I find it challenging to get clear photos of birds as they dine at the dogwoods. Birds tend to stay in the center of the trees, reaching up or out to snatch the fruits. Plenty of foliage for hiding and nervous bird movements mean that the trees have their fruits stripped, while birds are relatively safe from prying eyes (and cameras) as they eat. This year, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, and European Starlings were the most frequent diners of the dogwoods’ treats

While it’s a win to catch decent photos of nibbling birds, I’m content to observe wildlife eating healthy, native berries from my garden. After all, feeding the wild things is why I plant what I plant!