Tag Archive | Bumblebees
The Non-Native Beauty
In my daughter’s Maryland spring backyard, I discovered a dainty blue wildflower growing in the shade cast by trees and in the shadow of a wooden fence that borders her property. With scalloped leaves and four petaled flowers, the slender speedwell thrives in the moist soils here. A non-native, this plant traveled from Europe to […]
The Last Big Harvest
Fall is the time of year when goldenrods brighten the fields and roadsides with showy yellow blossoms. It is the time for the last major harvesting of nectar and pollen by bees, wasps, migrating butterflies and many other insects. Nectar gathered by bumblebees and honeybees will help these insects survive the winter. Pollen is also […]
The Soap Bush!
When I worked in state parks in New York, I frequently conducted guided tours of parklands to school, scouts and the general public. One of the shrubs I featured in the early summer was sweet pepperbush when this plant bloomed. I tore off a flower and demonstrated how it became an abrasive soap to wash […]
The Plant Sowed by Ants
In dry, sandy clearings from Florida to Canada on the east coast trailing arbutus, an evergreen plant, blooms in the spring. It is visited by bumblebees, a major pollinator for this plant, Once the flowers are pollinated, seed capsules with a fleshy parts develops. Ants find these grains and carry it to their underground bunker. […]
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