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Category Archives: Pollinators
Five Annuals for a Pollinator Garden
by Mary Free, Certified Master Gardener Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds gravitate to gardens that bloom throughout the growing season and that contain an abundance of the same plant species as well as a diversity of species of … Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators, Public Education
Five Things You Didn’t Know About . . . Annuals
by Mary Free, Certified Master Gardener Unlike perennials, which live for more than two years, annual plants sprout, bloom, produce seeds, and die in a single growing season. If the garden was a stage, perennials would be the leads and … Continue reading
For Your Pollinator Garden
Written (and Photographed) by Mary Free, Certified Master Gardener Do you want to create or add to a pollinator garden? Do you look at lists of plants that claim to be superior at attracting pollinators, then wonder which ones really … Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators, Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Tagged black and gold bumble bee, brown-belted bumble bee, European honey bee, glance, green sweat bee, Mary Free, Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot), pollinators, syrphid fly, two-spotted bumble bee, Video
On the Echinacea – What’s that Insect? Answers!
Written (and Photographed) by Mary Free, Certified Master Gardener We wrap up pollinator week with one last challenge: can you identify the insects in the video? These hairy pollinators were buzzing around the Echinacea at Green Spring Gardens on Wednesday. One characteristic … Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators, Public Education
Tagged insects, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia, Native plants, pollinators
On the Echinacea – What’s that Insect?
Written (and Photographed) by Mary Free, Certified Master Gardener [Note: This is an updated and revised version of an article originally posted on June 13, 2012.] This year, June 2oth is not only the summer solstice, but the beginning of … Continue reading
Posted in Demonstration Gardens, Pollinators, Public Education
Tagged Echinacea, insects, Native plants, pollinator week, pollinators
Can You Identify These Pollinators? Part 3: Hummingbirds
Sometimes moth species, like the white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) above, are mistaken for hummingbirds. Unlike most moths, it often feeds during the day. At first glance, its bulk, rapid wing movement, swift flight, and habit of hovering as it feeds resembles that of a hummingbird. No wonder these insects also are referred to as hummingbird moths. Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators
Tagged Archilochus colubris, bird feeders, eBird, Green Spring Gardens, hummingbird migration, hummingbirds, Hyles lineata, Lobelia cardinalis, Lonicera sempervirens, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia, nectar, ruby-throated hummer, rufous, rufous hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, white-lined sphinx
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Can You Identify These Pollinators? Part 2: Butterflies
One of the joys of summer is to watch butterflies flaunt their shapes and colors by flitting, floating and fluttering from flower to flower. Attracted to clustered or composite blooms that are bright, red, purple, blue, and yellow, they pick up and transport pollen on their legs and wings. Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators
Tagged admiral butterfly, aspen, black oaks, brushfoot butterflies, brushfoots, buckeye, buckeye butterfly, butterflies, butterfly eyespots, butterfly predators, butterfly skippers, caterpillars, cherry, common buckeye, cottonwood, downy serviceberry, ecdysone, eyespots, foxglove, Junonia coenia, MGNV, milkweed, monarch butterfly, monkey flower, nectar, New York ironweed, pigment color, plantain, Poanes zabulon, Red-spotted purple larvae, rotting fruit, ruellia, sap, scrub, snapdragon, US to Mexico butterfly migration, verbena, Vernonia noveboracensis, Viburnum, white flowers, willow, Zabulon skipper
Can You Identify These Pollinators? Part 1: Bees, Wasps, Flies
During National Pollinator Week we challenged you to test your pollinator identification skills. Each day we featured a pollinator or two on our Facebook page with clues to the identity. This week we provide answers in three parts. Part 1 focuses on bees, wasps and flies. Continue reading
Posted in Pollinators
Tagged Apis mellifera, bees, Boltonia asteroides, Bombus auricomus, bumble bee, buzz pollination, digger wasp, Eastern bumble bee, entomology, Eupatroium hyssopifolium, European honey bee, flies, Flowers, fruit pollinators, gardening, Green Spring Gardens, ground-nesters, honeybee, hover flies, ladybugs, leafcutter bee, Ma, Master Gardener, MGNV, Monarda, nectar, pollen, pollinator, Scolia dubia, scolid wasps, Solidago canadensis, sonication, Sphex, sweat bee, syrphid fly, wasp
How to Celebrate National Pollinator Week – 15-21 June: Go Native!
National Pollinator Week – See how MGNV can help you “Go Native!” with pollinators. Continue reading
Posted in MG in the Garden, Pollinators
Tagged animal pollinators, bee bountiful, bee showy, bee-friendly flowers, Best Bets to Attract Polllinators, birds, butterflies, climate, environment, Eupatorium, flowering plants, genetic diversity, Hyssopleaf Thoroughwort, insects, Joe-Pye Weed, Landscape, MGNV, National Pollinator Week, native habitat, native landscaping, Native plants, native pollinators, pesticides, pollinators, predation, Science magazine, Solidago rugosa, Sunny Garden, tried and true plants, U.S. Forest Service, VCE, Verbene hastata, Virginia, Virginia Cooperative Extension, wildlife, wildlife habitat
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New Monarch Waystation at Bluemont Park
Written by Maraea Harris, Master Gardener Intern The Bluemont Bird and Butterfly Garden began around 2004. The space, which had been just another parking lot island, was filled with various flowering perennials and shrubs and was used and maintained by … Continue reading
Posted in Demonstration Gardens, MG in the Garden, Pollinators
Tagged Amsonia hubrichtii, Asclepias tuberosa, Beautyberry, Bluemont Bird and Butterfly Garden, hoary mountain mint, Lonicera sempervirens, Master Gardener, Monarch Waystation, Monarch Waystation Certification from Monarch Watch, National Pollinator Week, Parks and Recreation, plant of the year, pollinator week, pollinators, purple coneflower, serviceberry tree, Verbena bonariensis, Virginia Native Plant Society, Winterberry
