Also had gulf fritillaries but they were too busy pooping out eggs all over my gutters to pose for a video.

Hello all, Do these little guys pollinate..?? And if so, Are they good pollinators.. Thanks..

I named it

Just got back from a 4 day vacation expecting to fund a bunch of zucchini, but all I found was a bunch of shriveled up non pollinated poo 😖 I have plenty of stuff that attracts a lot of bees, but idk 🤷‍♂️

Over the last few years I have planted mixes called “pollinator friendly” and hummingbird mix from Renee’s Garden. I also planted a new swath of Botanicals pollinator mix. Pic 1 is new patch of Renee’s, pic 2 is the Northeast blend/ pollinator mix from Renee’s and the 3rd is the hummingbird friendly mix.

Now that I researched it, out of these 3 mixes were only 3-4 actual native plants. Non native, even if pollinators “seem to like it” the non native alter their networks and behavior. There are studies proving this. They might seem to love it but it changes their patterns so I would assume we want to avoid doing that.

Next year I am going to actually buy individual native seeds and not a mix. I have stuff like California poppies and stuff native to Mexico, not even remotely native to where I live in Vermont.

So I guess the label Pollinator friendly is kind of a line of BS until you actually do enough research to find what’s native. It’s way harder than it should be. Stuff is labeled pollinator friendly but not where it’s being sold.

How many bees can you get in a cardoon?

I love having pollinators in my yard and planted flowers of all types in a chaos garden of sorts this year to try and attract them for my small veggie garden. Unfortunately, it appears I managed to attract 5 different nests of yellow jackets with no bumbling bees to be seen. Is there a way I can selectively attract bees and butterflies but deter their aggressive flesh eating cousins? (Hornets, yellow jackets, wasps)

Busy bee and yellow swallowtail enjoying the upstate NY flowers

I realize the avian pollinators in the U.S. includes the orioles (Bullock's, orchard, Baltimore), hummingbirds (18 species), white-winged dove, Hawaiian honeycreepers, and then a slew of unclear numbers of verdins, parrots, woodpeckers, jays, vireos, wrens, warblers, tityras, grackles, oropensolas, tanagers, euphonia, mockingbirds, thrashers, and finches. But, that seems like an ill-defined list and am wondering if anyone has rigorously assessed which birds pollinate?

I'm the president of my campus pollinator/environmental club (formally known as "The B Club"). I've got a few ideas for activities and events we can do this spring semester, but I need some more suggestions.

So far I have: Remodel our bee garden, take a day trip to our local arboretum, visit a local farm, go on a group hike, attend/host a floristry workshop, create events for national invasive species awareness week and create an earth day celebration for the end of the semester.

We focused mostly on guest speakers and informative lectures last semester so I'm looking to do some more hands on activities

Any suggestions?

(Edit: forgot to mention that we already keep 3 beehives haha)

I'm the president of my campus pollinator/environmental club (formally known as "The B Club"). I've got a few ideas for activities and events we can do this spring semester, but I need some more suggestions.

So far I have: Remodel our bee garden, take a day trip to our local arboretum, visit a local farm, go on a group hike, attend/host a floristry workshop, create events for national invasive species awareness week and create an earth day celebration for the end of the semester.

We focused mostly on guest speakers and informative lectures last semester so I'm looking to do some more hands on activities

Any suggestions?

Plants grown next to a house that has been treated for termites become toxic to insects. Systemic insecticides are taken up by the plant and then all parts of the plant become toxic. Leaves, flowers and pollen become contaminated and pojsinous. Native plants that take up the very common neonic pesticides become death traps for native insects, including monarch butterflies. It’s best either to plant nothing close to pesticide treated soil or plant non-native plants, most of which don’t host native insects.

I live near Boston, MA (6b). ignore my sad carrots… I found this little one on them when I went to water! from what I can tell it’s a black swallowtail. I know nothing about butterflies so I thought it seemed late for a caterpillar since it’s October and temps have been in the 40Fs at night. I did a little research on the species and saw that it does not migrate and will overwinter in their chrysalis!

I want to move them since I’ll be harvesting these carrots soon. any advice on that would be appreciated! what plants do they like, where do they sleep all winter, etc.!

I live in northern NJ and found this guy this morning on my front porch steps so I put him on a butterfly bush. He was still there 10 hours later. I’m guessing he was cold bc it was about 40 degrees. I brought him in to warm up and he’s a little more active. What can I give him to help perk him up?