Pollinators and Late Summer Blooming Flowers

Cardinal Flower and friend

It's late summer and many gardens are winding down. Any blooming plants are especially appreciated for their beauty and the nectar and pollen they provide for resident and visiting pollinators. Each year I add more plants that fill the void until the big blue, gold and purple fall show. Here are a few that continue to make me smile.

Cardinal Flower, aka, Lobelia siphilitica is a gorgeous plant that always has skippers, butterflies, bumbles, carpenter bees and the tiniest little pollinators visiting it.

It blooms bottom up and the color is more lilac/purple then blue! It's planted in semi-shade and needs a good gulp of water in this extreme weather. It would be happiest in a constantly moist soil, but, that's not going to happen at Clay and Limestone. Once established, it can take short periods of drought. Red Cardinal Flower bloomed earlier and was the host for hummers.

Eupatorium coelestinum or Conoclinium coelestinum ~Whatever name you prefer, it's another late blooming native that I can't garden without. Nature gave me this pretty and I thank her every August when the cooling lilac blue against the pale green foliage is a spot of lush in my other wise dry garden. This plant is loved by bees, butterflies (especially Skippers and Swallowtails) and insects that Bluebirds, Orioles and warblers like to munch on~

Vernonia gigantea is one of my favorite of the late summer rough and tumble wildflowers that make a home in the garden. They make gardening at this time a year a pleasure.

Ironweed is the common name for this beauty. It's another native that loves wet feet and grows at Clay and Limestone despite the dry clay soil each summer. This is not a xeric plant, so don't plant it unless you have a low spot that collects rain water or plan on making sure you can meet its cultural needs. Bees, butterflies, skippers, and various bee flies seek out the nectar and pollen. Deer do not!

I'm not alone in my admiration of the Susans! Skippers, small butterflies, bees, bees and more bees love them, too. Rudbeckia hirta is the host plant for the Silvery Checkerspot (source) and several other caterpillary critters. R fulgida , R subtomentosa, R laciniata and R triloba are also residents of the garden.

Silphium perfoliatum. Just look at that bloom and its pollinator visitors! Need I say more about why I grow this pushy native! Cup Plant has visitors from sun up to sun down! Not only is it a pollinator magnet~it's been in bloom since August 1.

It's one of the tallest flowering plants in the garden, but, wants to lean over after a heavy rain storm~Never to stand up again. I discovered that you can cut it back in June, like tall asters, and it will flower just a tad latter and much shorter! But, nothing can stop it's attractiveness to bumbles, small bees, wasps, butterflies, skippers and birds who come to eat the seeds early in the fall.

Helenium autumnale or Common Sneezeweed is a cutie pie plant that's relatively new to the garden. It's putting on a big flowery show but, with the droughty conditions it's really wimping out and flopping all over the place. So far that hasn't stopped the critters from visiting it, but, it may be moved to a spot where it can get support to hold it up! What I wanna know is, "Who planted this plant in the front of the garden where it looks messy and sloppy and blocks the amsonia?!"

Yes, even a few exotics make me smile. Anemone × hybrida 'September Charm' (Japanese anemone).


xxoogail

PS I know, I've written this before~ If you want to attract bees and other pollinators to your garden:

• plant large swathes of pollinator friendly, nectar and pollen producers.
• plant host plants~don't stop at nectar and pollen plants
• plan for bloom from late spring to early winter
• bee sure to include water
• provide nesting sites for a variety of visitors: decaying logs, even special bee houses and leave some bare ground (ix-nay on the plastic landscape cloth)
• Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides in your garden. I mean never. Seriously....never.

In case you want to read earlier pollinator posts~

Now Is The Time To Bee-gin Thinking About Bees ( here)
This Is The Place To Bee ( here)
If You Could Plant Only One Plant In Your Garden~Don't (here)
Must Bee The Season of The Witch (here)
Go Bare In Your Garden (here)
We can't All Be Pretty Pollinators (here)
Eye, Eye Skipper, Big Eyed Pollinators (here)
What's In Your Garden (here)
Royalty In The Garden~Monarch Butterfly (here)
Carpenter Bees (here)
Got Wildflowers?(here)
It's Spring and A Gardener's Thoughts Are On Pollinators (here)
The Wildflower and The Bee (here)
A Few Good Reasons To Plant Milkweek (here)
Got Shade? You Can Have Pollinators ( (here)
A Pollinator friendly Shrub (here)
Big Goings On at C and L (here)

Other bee posts you might want to read~

Count Yourself Lucky To Have Hoverflies (here)
Bumblebee Hotel (here)
Still Taking Care Of Bzzness (here)
My Sweet Embraceable You (here)

Bee clip art (here)

Dressed For Success~Moth Style

Sometimes, you have to get very close to see what a flower has to show you~
If you're very quick or being particularly observant, you might see a little creature who has taken up residence. Like the tiny crab spider who waits patiently for dinner. Or, perhaps you'll notice a flower that looks quite disheveled
and when looking closer you discover a well camouflaged caterpillar.

The macro shot shows so much clearer the clever disguise that this caterpillar of the Emerald Wavy Lined moth (Synchlora aerata) uses for protective coloration. Caterpillars are especially at risk because they can't fly away when danger approaches. Camouflage is an effective means to blend into their environment and escape being eaten by a bird or wasp.

The Emerald Wavy cleverly disguises its body with pieces of a composite flower like rudbeckia. It's able to add bits and pieces of petals to its spiny back with silk and seems to instinctively know when it's time to freshen the dress!


The Emerald Wavy Lined moth is quite common, but folks rarely notice these loper or inchworm caterpillars because their camouflage is so successful. They hide beautifully on the cone and gardener and bird don't seem to notice. I might have missed this wonderful opportunity to have a close encounter with this clever creature had I not been looking for a stand of fresh flowers to photograph. It was a hot, still day and the 'petal' of a tattered Susan was moving about. Looking closer I saw what looked like a mutated petal attached to the cone of a Susan and met my new garden friend.

There are plenty of Susans at Clay and Limestone, so I don't mind sharing a few with the Emerald Wavy. Before long it will attach itself to the stem or underside of the leaf and weave silk and petal parts creating a perfectly camouflaged cocoon. A short time later a small emerald moth will emerge....

Isn't nature grand~

Gail

If you want to see other creatures who share the garden with me go here~Southern Crimson Moth: Return Of The Stealth Chompers; Taking care Of Bzzness (native bees); The Boys Of Late Summer and This Post Is rated BG (both Black Swallowtail caterpillar)

The Fall of the Golden Empire

All hail Susan.


She has had a glorious reign. She has smiled upon her subjects.

She was adored by all.


She has provided food and joy for her visitors.

She has been a most benign empress.

Her subjects bowed before her.

All hail Susan.

The Decline of the Golden Empire officially began in the land of Clay and Limestone with the browning of Susan. Her most loyal subject worked tirelessly, but nothing could turn back the decline of Autumn. Soon she will be a memory. Birds across the empire will flock to celebrate her life and and feast.

Her most loyal subject has written of her tales. She has celebrated her life with daily visits to the court. Please join her in honoring Susan.

All hail Susan.

Susan and I thank you for joining us. 

Gail

‘Adieu!’ she cries; and waved her lily hand.

'Black-Eyed Susan'  John Gay (1685-1732)