Why I started observing pollinators Eye opening experiences with overlooked wildlife in my garden and beyond. Learning to appreciate pollinators and other invertebrates through macro photography.
Pollinator Garden Plants: Catclaw Acacia Senegalia greggii (formerly Acacia greggii) is native to the southwestern united states and northern Mexico at elevations below 4500′. It’s a large thorny shrub or small tree growing to 20′ tall. Flowers are fragrant. Full to part sun, low water and hardy to 0 degrees F. Flowering Season: J F M A M J JContinue reading “Pollinator Garden Plants: Catclaw Acacia”
Glamorous Moths #7 – Pine Carpenterworm Givira lotta, the Pine Carpenterworm moth. I have a soft spot for large, fuzzy moths. This one is a member of the Carpenter and Leopard moths. From Wikipedia: The Cossidae, the cossid millers or carpenter millers, make up a family of mostly large miller moths. This family contains over 110 genera with almost 700 knownContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #7 – Pine Carpenterworm”
Glamorous Moths #6 – Rothschildia Silk Moth Our sixth featured moth is Rothschildia cinctus. They are found from southern Arizona to Panama. According to Wikipedia: Saturniinae is a subfamily of the family Saturniidae. They are commonly known as emperor moths or wild silk moths. They are easily spotted by the eyespots on the upper surface of their wings. Some exhibit realistic eye-likeContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #6 – Rothschildia Silk Moth”
Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise If you’re reading this from New Mexico, the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Grand Opening of Visitor Center and 10th Birthday is on Saturday, September 10th, about a month away. I hope you’ll join us! It’s summer in New Mexico and it’s hot and dry. Not as hot as Phoenix, thankfully! We received niceContinue reading “Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 7June22 Plants in the garden, and sharing plants from the neighbor’s garden Most urban and suburban lots are small relative to the natural tracts of native habitat, so there are limits to what we can plant, both in size and variety. And, it turns out, putting your yard into context with the nearest forage/host areaContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 7June22 Blood-colored Milkweed Bug, Tarantula Hawk Wasp, Queen Butterfly, Ceraunus Blue Butterfly, Great Horned Owl The beauty of a pollinator garden is a two-edged wand: The reward of knowing you are contributing to the health of the ecosystem that you inhabit The treasure hunt of discovering the web of characters that visit your paradise InContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”
Meet the Author: Dr. Shaun McCoshum An interview with Shaun McCoshum about his background, interests, research, and new gardening book.
Book Review: Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions Thank you for reading my review of “A short introduction to Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions” by Dr. Shaun McCoshum. If you are interested, the book is available for purchase on Amazon.com With 29 full-size pages, this book is lightweight, but not light on content. It is specifically aimed at aridContinue reading “Book Review: Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions”
Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia The way that gardeners feel about moths and butterflies is often quite different, despite how closely related they are. We are happy to grow milkweed to attract Monarchs and allow the caterpillars to devour whole plants. Weed is in the name milkweed, so I think we value the plant more for its role in theContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Design: TJ’s framework drawing for pool and landscape. This is the third post in this series. You can read the first post here. Bucking the trend of right angle, manicured modern design, we decided to go with organic shapes to soften the landscape and align with the natural shape of the plants. Have we waitedContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Design: North Side Yard Welcome back! This is the second installment in this series – in the previous post I presented the history of the project and the design considerations for the South Side Yard – you can view that post here. The side yard on the north side of the house has two separateContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Join us for this series where we’ll cover a Phoenix Pollinator Garden from design to planting to pollinator observations.
The potential consequences of ‘bee washing’ by Sheila R. Colla (2022) Over recent decades, the plight of wild bees and other pollinators has gone from a niche area to one of the most mainstream environmental topics. Scientific research interest, capacity and consequently publications have grown tremendously in recent years, as has mainstream media coverage. The public has been engaged in a variety of ways to “save the bees”Continue reading “The potential consequences of ‘bee washing’ by Sheila R. Colla (2022)”
One Year in my Pollinator Garden Highlights from my pollinator garden in New Mexico, featuring more than 70 native bees and 300 species of insects.
Glamorous Moths #4 – Southern Flannel Moth Wide ranging across the southern USA and northern Mexico, the Southern Flannel moth, Megalopyge opercularis, is this week’s featured moth. Read more here, if you’re interested: Megalopyge opercularis (ufl.edu). Flannel moths are in Superfamily Zygaenoidea with Jewel Caterpillar moths, like Dalcerides. It’s larval food plants are mostly oak trees and some Manzanita species in ArizonaContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #4 – Southern Flannel Moth”
Glamorous Moths #3 – ‘Colorado’ Yucca Moth This is the third post in a semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. Today, I’d like to introduce you to yucca moths. Yucca moths are in the Family Prodoxidae and found across the USA and Mexico. They are a spring and summer moth, timing their flights with blooms ofContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #3 – ‘Colorado’ Yucca Moth”
Glamorous Moths #2 – White-lined Sphinx This is the second post in a semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. Today’s inspiration comes from a brief encounter last Friday. I was at an orchard and a White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata), was getting nectar from plum flowers mid-afternoon. These strong fliers are members of FamilyContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #2 – White-lined Sphinx”
Glamorous Moths #1 – Dalcerides ingenita This is the first post in a new, semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. The first post is inspired by Ronald Parry’s talk I saw on Zoom last week (recording here on Youtube). In the USA, the label “moths” represent over 90% of all Lepidoptera species, but butterfliesContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #1 – Dalcerides ingenita”
Species Spotlight – Sandia Hairstreak and Beargrass March 13, 2022. New Mexico’s state insect, the Sandia Hairstreak butterfly, is flying again in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque. Range. Callophrys mcfarlandi was discovered in New Mexico, a state that still encompasses nearly all of its US range. It also occurs in West Texas and south into Mexico. Life History. Larvae have aContinue reading “Species Spotlight – Sandia Hairstreak and Beargrass”
Bumblebees of the Southwest Yesterday, I posted about an opportunity for public participation in a bee and plant survey. Today, I want to share the 5 most common bumblebees in Arizona and New Mexico, according to iNaturalist. American Bumblebee: Despite being on the verge of the endangered species list, it is the most common to see in our area.Continue reading “Bumblebees of the Southwest”
Ask a Bumblebee Source: Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML) | Facebook USGS/FWS Native Bee Lab have developed a simple Plant/Bumble Bee Survey that permits anyone to survey what plants Bumble Bees use anywhere there are Bumble Bees (literally). Our goal is to quantify which plants bumble bees use, rank them by that use, and also identify which onesContinue reading “Ask a Bumblebee”
Landscaping for Pollinator Diversity – From Southwest Yard & Garden Blog Are all bees beneficial? “For the most part, yes. Wild bees and honey bees need pollen and nectar to survive and establish their nests. Some bees can become pests when they build nests in areas where humans (or animals) live and play, but even those bees offer benefits as pollinators. Many bees look for openContinue reading “Landscaping for Pollinator Diversity – From Southwest Yard & Garden Blog”
What should I plant for the most pollinators? As much as possible! Okay, that’s not much of an answer. First, which kinds of pollinators do you want to attract? Hummingbirds – red tubular Penstemon and Acanthus flowers work great. Bees – sunflowers are your best bet. Butterflies and moths aren’t so picky, but you’ll want to provide host plants, like milkweed for Monarchs.Continue reading “What should I plant for the most pollinators?”
