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August 03, 2008

Build It And They Will Come

It is common for people to approach native plant landscaping from the "butterfly garden" point of view. In Native Suburbia, that was not our primary focus, but it has turned out to be a pleasant side effect.

There has been an abundance of blooms in our yard this summer and this has attracted numerous species of butterflies, bees and wasps. Every day we see busy insects working nearly every flower in the yard. Our most recent arrival is the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) pictured at left. They seem to really like the purple coneflowers, which worked out well for me. With so much focus on the flower, I was able to get up close and take the picture.

The insects' concentration on the flowers should also reassure anyone who fears bees and wasps. They are far more interested in collecting pollen and nectar than stinging anyone. In fact they can be just as visually interesting as butterflies if you take the time to look. Benia and I often observe them up close and have never been stung. Now if only those pesky mosquitos would learn to love nectar instead of my blood, then all would be peaceful in Native Suburbia!

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Comments


cat wrote at 2008-08-29 12:28:

That is just lovely... and I completely agree those mosquitoes could spend a lot more time pollinating (currently they hover over our mint field) and less time bloodsucking.

firefly wrote at 2008-09-24 15:22:

I'm glad to see that the swallowtails like coneflower -- I have a couple planted very close to spicebush. Have yet to see these butterflies in my garden; this year it was too rainy for everything but bees.

I've been bitten so often by mosquitoes this year I consider it a bonus if I do something outdoors and escape without a welt.

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