No efforts on our part seem to keep our wildflower garden thriving. Anything good that sprouts is soon discovered by the deer. So it was with some surprise that they ignored one particular plant. That plant has now bloomed–hugely!
It’s a Late-flowering Boneset, Eupatorium serotinum, a giant of a plant at 7 feet high and 7 feet wide! Hundreds of insects are happily nectaring on it. Most seem to be wasps that my friend and I are trying to identify. Here are a few:
Fraternal Potter Wasp
Atteva aurea
Katydid Wasp, Sphex nudus
Might be a Spring Azure.
A mystery wasp
A honeybee with full pollen sacs.
Of course there were more bumblebees and honey bees, but I haven’t managed to get photos of those. Given the dry summer and this plant’s persistence in growing, then hosting so many nectar feeders during a time that beekeepers consider a ‘dearth’, we’ve decided that mystery plants are more valuable in the garden that the planned, planted ones!
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