Tag: bees

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Pollinator gardening

White Goes with Everything

Summer comes with a tidal wave of pollinators in all shapes and sizes.  The garden itself explodes in a celebration of flowers.  With so many plants blooming in July and August–Why add more?  Because this native shines.  It serves a huge number  of pollinators, flowers for weeks and pairs well with a diversity of other colors.  The pale flowers literally glow in the dazzling summer sun or in dusky evening light.

Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum virginianum, begins opening its blooms in early July.  The flowers grow as flat-topped clusters of many tiny lavender-spotted florets.  The florets open from the outermost ring to the center.  This pattern of florets opening one by one prolongs the bloom time.

The plant provides a wonderfully stiff, erect form in the garden.  The leaves can be up to two inches with a thin, lance shape and a strong center vein, almost a crease.  They have a spicy, minty fragrance.  Overall, Pycnanthemum virginianum has fine textured foliage with medium green color.  Liatris spicata grows beautifully with Mountain Mint.  The dense, purple pillars of the Liatris blooms offset Mountain Mint’s flat white flowers.

Mountain Mint enjoys growing in zones 3 through 7 in full to part sun.  It will grow two to three feet high and should be spaced 12 to 18 inches apart.  It grows in wet to medium-dry soil.  I grow one clump next to my south-facing sidewalk with some afternoon shade.  It’s thriving and only occasionally needs staking on the sidewalk side.  

This plant will self-seed once mature.  Pull seedlings immediately if you don’t want the plant.  They have deep, tough roots even when young. Also, there are reports of Mountain Mint taking over gardens with humous rich, wet soils.  If that’s the case, plant it in sunken pots as you might do with other mints.

While a brilliant plant all on its own, Mountain Mint is also hugely popular with pollinators and beneficial insects, large and small.  It’s visited by yellow-faced bees (Hylaeus), metallic green sweat bees (Agapostemon and Aurochloropsis), and small resin bees (Heriades)—all tiny bees.

Carpenter bees enjoy Mountain Mint. These gentle bees concentrate on gathering nectar and pollen for their young.  Carpenter bees pollinate wild plants while gathering food.The males cannot sting and the female rarely do.

In nature, these bees nest in soft wood and pithy plant stems.  They can be pests if they nest in the wood of a house and seem to like cedar, redwood, pines, and other soft woods.  If they are nesting in your siding, eaves, deck, etc., it’s because the wood is weathered or unfinished.    Keep your wood painted or stained regularly and carpenter bees shouldn’t bother you. 

Leaf Cutter Bees also visit Pycnanthemum virginianum for food.  These medium-sized bees use P. virginianum for food.  Their name comes from using pieces of soft leaves to create nest cells.

Mountain Mint also hosts a variety of wasps.  Some of these wasps serve as beneficial insects feeding pests to their young.  The Tachytes wasp or Sand Wasp hunts katydids and grasshoppers.  They use either nymphs (young) or adult insects depending on what’s available.  These wasps most frequently nest in sandy soil.

The Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp, Eremnophila aureonotata, is a gorgeous wasp with metallic markings and a strikingly triangular face.  I usually see silver-marked individuals whose spots look white in some lights.  This handsome pair is on their mating flight.  The larger female in on the bottom.  Eremnophila aureonotata is one of the thread-waisted wasps.  These wasps have reduced their “waist” to a thin tube called a petiole.  The shape of the petiole helps with identification. 

Isodontia mexicana, Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp, is another thread-waisted wasp.  Despite its name, Isodontia mexicana is native to all North America.  In addition, it’s been accidentally introduced into Europe.  It hunts tree crickets or katydids—both nymphs and adults.  This wasp builds its nest in hollow cavities and lines the nest with pieces of grass.  Grass-carrying wasp can nest in screen windows.

On Mountain Mint

Interestingly, several bee predators also come to my Mountain Mint.  The bee fly, Lepidophora lepidocera, and the bee wolf, Philanthus.  I had mixed feelings about them when I realized they were bee hunters.  But then I remembered, predators are a sign of a healthy ecosystem.  The garden has enough bees to also support them.

The bee fly is an active and efficient pollinator of early spring wildflowers such as Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica.  They visit some of the same flowers that bees do but make many more trips.  In this way, these flies may be even more effective pollinators.

Here’s the downside of Lepidophora lepidocera—it eats bee’s larva!  And uses an extraordinary tactic to deposit its egg.  The fly covers its egg with sand or dirt, possibly for camouflage.  It hovers around the nest entrance until the bee leaves.  The fly flips an egg in or near the nest with its abdomen.  Then larva eat both stored pollen and the bee larva.  The maggot pupates in the burrow waiting until next Spring to emerge.

What an amazing diversity of insects on one plant!  Alone it can increase pollinator visits to any garden.  With its long-lasting bloom, easy care needs and versatile color, Mountain Mint makes a wonderful addition for the summer garden.

Categories
Pollinator gardening

A Surprising Vine

Filling the lull between early Spring and Summer flowers

Virginia Creeper—people love it or hate it.  When hated, it’s an invasive, woody vine that kills trees and is impossible to control.  When lovable, Virginia Creeper is an adaptable climber with abundant dark green leaves that doubles as a ground cover.  To add to the controversy, there are two plants commonly called Virginia Creeper-Parthenocissus inserta and Parthenocissus quinquefolia.  P. inserta even has a Latin synonym of Parthenocissus vitacea.  The two Virginia Creepers grow over essentially the same range and, except for subtle differences, look basically the same.  

Today, I’m loving Parthenocissus inserta (Virginia Creeper or Woodbine) for the value of its late Spring flowers.  Parthenocissus inserta begins blooming as Baptisia australis  (False indigo, as discussed in my last blog post, https://wildthingsinthe.garden/2023/03/06/the-magnificent-month-of-may-and-june/) starts to fade and continues until early summer.  In a sunny spot, the small blooms form lavish clusters available to mid- to late Spring native pollinators.   

But there’s more!  This vine is incredibly versatile.  P. inserta climbs when given a little support for its twining tendrils.  It works as a tough groundcover too.  In the end, P. inserta rewards you with charming clusters of bloom and vibrant green leaves. These are followed by bright red fall color and blue-black berries enjoyed by birds and wildlife.

Virginia Creeper’s flowers appear in late Spring.  Grouped in clusters, they begin as green buds.  As they develop, these buds turn rosy.  Then the petals open to bend completely backward against the base (or recurve).  Petal color can vary from deep green with just a touch of yellow at the base to a deep reddish-brown fading slightly toward the center.  In both cases, the petals have white to pale yellow edges.  The stamens rise from a cone-shaped pistil.  Yellow pollen rests on red anthers and these are held on white filaments.  The bi-colored pistil has a red base tipped with yellow.  Nectaries are located around the base of the pistil.  Different insects explore this nectar supply and drink.

Once fertilized, the blooms change into 1/4-3/8”, blue-black berries with a slightly frosted exterior.  They’re poisonous to most mammals – although deer do eat them and survive.  Birds appreciate the berries.  Woodpeckers, flycatchers, vireos, bluebirds, and thrush visit Woodbine.

The leaves are really the main attraction of Woodbine for the gardener.  They’re richly green all spring and summer, screening whatever is underneath or behind.  Palmately compound, in five sections, each part is coarsely toothed.  The upper part is medium green and more or less glossy, the lower side pale.  Usually smooth, the lower leaf will sometimes have hairs along the veins.  In early fall, they turn a brilliant scarlet.   

Woodbine’s stalks and stem are hairless and green when young.  They turn brown or reddish–brown and become woody as the plant grows.  Length estimates range from 20 to almost 100 feet although most of them fall between 40 and 60 feet.  The fall leaves often shine above the trees where the vines have grown up a dead tree trunk.

Woodbine climbs using single curling tendrils that wrap around a support.  The tendrils develop opposite leaves and can have 2 to 3 branches.  These tendrils separate P. inserta from Parthenocissus quinquefolia(the other Virginia creeper).  P. quinquefolia has branching tendrils (up to 10 branches) with adhesive pads at the end of each.  The curling tendrils of P. inserta mean it cannot grow on a smooth support like a pole.  Woodbine can and does grow over rocks and shrubs.  It will push its tendrils into crevices in rocks and wood to climb.  The tendrils expand to help hold it in place. 

P. inserta grows in full sun to full shade and dry to wet conditions.  It tolerates all types of soil and pH.  Woodbine can even be used as a xeriscape plant.  In the garden, it can be used as a climbing vine or as a groundcover.  

However  it does require regular maintenance.  Prune to keep vines in check.  Pull and prune back groundcover.  For best Fall leaf color and best chance of bloom, plant in a sunny location.  Overall, the best growing conditions are part to full sun and moist, well-drained soil with high organic matter.  

I’ve already talked about how Parthenocissus inserta looks like Parthenocissus quinquefolia and both have been called Virginia Creeper.  When I searched for information on pollinators and/or beneficial insects using Woodbine or Virginia Creeper, there was confusion between the two plants.  P. quinquefolia was listed with photos that looked like P. vitacea.  For the insect facts, I’ll use information from sources where photos confirm P. inserta, sources listing P. vitacea or P. inserta or from my own photos.

Many early pollinators visit P. inserta blooms.  Small metallic sweat bees use pollen and nectar.  Leafcutter bees, Megachile, use the flowers for food and cut pieces of the leaves to line their nest cells.  Masked-face bees, Hylaeus, stop at Woodbine for pollen and nectar.  Bumblebees and Honeybees also use its resources.

P. inserta is also a host for a variety of Sphinx moths including the Lettered Sphinx Moth (Deidamia inscriptum) and the Pandorus Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus).  The Sphinx moths produce enormous larva followed by large adult moths.  The Lettered Sphinx Moth has a 1 ¾” to 2 ¾’ wingspan while the Pandorus Sphinx Moth ranges from 3 ¼” to 4 ½”.  

Sphinx moths serve as pollinators by chance.  They often drink nectar by hovering in front of the plant and using their long proboscis.  The proboscis is a very long mouth tube, the equivalent of the moth’s tongue.  Pollen grains stick to the proboscis after nectaring.  When the moth travels to another flower, it can transfer some pollen to the next bloom.

Virginia Creeper or Parthenocissus inserta supplies many resources to native pollinators.  It’ll thrive in an abundance of locations and, as a vine, can be used in various ways in the garden.  Enjoy this grand plant in Spring, Summer and Fall! 

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog!  Please contact me with any questions or to subscribe.  I’d love to hear about your adventures with wild plants and pollinators!

Categories
native plants Pollinator gardening

The Magnificent Month of May—and June

Or when we’re ready for Summer but it’s not ready for us

Late Spring and the first burst of flowers has come and gone.  Delicate and lovely, these early flowers always warm our hearts after Winter but it’s still a long wait for the wild, abundant bloom of summer.  While we wait, let’s fill these late Spring days with more flowers.  And for those flowers, enter my next two plants—Baptisia australis and Parthenocissus vitacea.  

These two stars of late Spring and early Summer are big, bold, and versatile but very different.  And as I wrote I realized they’re too big to share one post.  Today’s post is about Baptisia australis and I’ll save Parthenocissus vitacea for next time.  Baptisia australis is a beloved, award-winning garden plant.  As well behaved, as it is beautiful, it’s perfect for any garden with enough space and sun.

Baptisia australis, (Baptisia), also called False Indigo or Wild Indigo, gives a glorious burst of late Spring bloom beginning at the end May and extending into early June.  Truly a special plant, Baptisia australis was the first straight species native (non-hybrid) chosen as Perennial of the Year in 2010 by the Perennial Plant Association.  This award draws a lot of interest because the chosen plant must be low maintenance, grow in a wide range of climates, be interesting in several seasons and relatively pest and disease-free.  B. australis manages to do all that naturally.

A plant so large it could be a shrub, Wild Indigo serves as a stunning accent plant!  It grows three to four feet wide and high.  Unlike its cousins the lupines, Baptisia isn’t picky about growing conditions.  Give it sun and some water and you can expect beautiful full growth and lush flowers.  It’s also deer resistant, salt tolerant and suitable for xeriscaping once established.

Xeriscaping is landscaping using little or no water from irrigation.  Some people extend the definition to include little to no maintenance.  If your Baptisia breaks off and rolls way to have its own adventure, then it’s absolutely no upkeep.

The Baptisia does have to become established in the garden before it’s fully resistant.  As it grows, Baptisia develops an extensive root system.  The roots can grow up to 12 feet deep and 3 to 4 feet wide.  Choose its location carefully, Baptisia does not take transplanting well.

Baptisia’s leaves are three part and slightly creased at the center vein.  Light green with a slightly bluish tinge, the foliage provides a highlight in the garden.  Some Baptisias, like B. australis, have a rounded form down to the grown.  Other Baptisias are vase shaped with bare stems at the base of the plant.  

Flower spikes rise over the foliage.  Spikes are 4” to 16” and densely packed with blue-purple blooms.  Blossoms open from the base to the top.  Once pollinated, large oval pods form.  They turn from yellow green to black when ripe.  The pods can be pruned off, especially if weighing down the plant. One year, after an especially heavy bloom, my Wild Indigo ended up about one foot tall under the weight of the seed pods.  I’ve also partially pruned to enjoy the effect of black pods against the green foliage without all the weight.  In Fall, the leaves turn to gray or black and curl but remain on the plant.  If the Baptisia is growing in an exposed location, it can break off at the base and roll away like a tumbleweed.  I have one plant at the top of a hill which does this every year.  The remaining stalks look like a very clean pruning.

Baptisia is best known for supporting bumblebees especially the newly emerged Queens.   Many kinds of Bumblebees visit these plants looking for nectar.  

Each bloom has a nectary deep in its base.  The location is part of a remarkable pollination system.  Baptisias try to avoid self-pollination.  Its strategy depends on the physical structure of the flower and the timing of bud opening.  Each blossom has a petal that the stands up (the banner) and two petals that stick out like a dog’s muzzle (the keel).  The keel holds the pistil (female part) and stamens (male parts with pollen).   Between the banner and keep, inside the flower is the nectar.  The bumblebee holds the keel with her mid- and hind legs and pushes her way deep into the flower to get to the nectar.  When held, the keel opens and its pollen sticks to the bee’s fuzzy belly.

When it comes to reproducing, plants have all different structures and methods to regulate when and how fertilization happens.  Why?  It gives plants some ability to control self-pollination vs cross pollination.  Self-pollination won’t change the gene pool in a population (ignoring mutations!)  But cross pollination increases chances of introducing different genes and more diversity into a population.  This is usually considered a good thing.

Baptisia has a fascinating system for reducing self-pollination.  When the bumblebees begin feeding at a bloom spike, they start at the bottom.  These lower flowers have more nectar and the female part is extended.  But the bumblebee doesn’t have much pollen at this point.  As she goes up the bloom spike, there is less nectar and more pollen.  When the bumblebee finishes and flies to the next stalk, she’ll start at the bottom again.  

As before, she finds more nectar and the pistil (female part) available on the lower flowers.  But this time, the bee has lots of pollen and there’s a higher chance of pollination.  The first plant “hopes” that the bee flew to a second plant with the pollen and cross pollination occurred!

Megachile, Leaf-Cutter Bees, a medium-sized bee also drinks nectar from Baptisia.  These medium-sized bees clearly have the strength to reach and enjoy B. australis’ floral rewards.  The Leaf-Cutter Bees use a method similar to Bumblebees when opening the flower.

Amazingly, small bees and insects also visit Baptisias.  In my garden, I’ve included both native plants and nativars.  One afternoon, I spotted the following behavior on my ‘Pink Truffles’ Baptisia.  I observed a mating flight of syrphid flies (also called hoverflies or flower flies).  The pair landed on a Baptisia bloom and the female began teasing out the stamens from inside the keel!  Adult hoverflies feed on nectar and pollen.  They spent several minutes easing them out and feeding.  Not B. australis but an interesting behavior!

Depending on the species, the syrphid fly’s larvae (maggots) can eat a variety of food.  Some maggots eat decaying plant and animal matter.  But other larvae eat aphid, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.

After the hoverflies, metallic green sweat bees arrived to eat the exposed pollen.  Once the stamens are uncovered, Lasioglossum, small sweat bees, also join these other pollinators using the Baptisia.

In addition to bees, Wild Indigo is a larval host for butterflies and skippers.  The Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) and Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades) caterpillars both eat Baptisia.  The larvae of three butterflies, the Frosted Elfin (Callophrys irus), Marine Blue (Leptotes marina), and Orange Sulfur (Colias eurytheme) also use it.  Adult Frosted Elfin Butterflies and other butterflies nectar at B. australis.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure with Baptisia australis-a gorgeous plant for a wonderful time of year.  Next time, I’ll talk about Parthenocissus vitacea aka Virginia Creeper aka Woodbine.  A very different plant, it’s well known as a wild plant but not in the garden.  I plan to show the benefits of including Woodbine in the garden for the landscape and the pollinators.

Please contact me to share your stories, questions, and observations!

Thanks for reading,

Mary