Pollinator Prairie Patch

Look at all this life on this "dead" log!

If you want to add biodiversity and more ecological functionality to your garden adding tree stumps, dead branches as boarders etc will do well.

Yes, this is in a natural area, but I have a bunch of fungi popping up in my garden as well.

Dropseed!

Sporobolous is such a beautiful grass that can be used in gardens. It is an elegant bunch grass that provides a textured cover.

This is a picture of dropseed in the wild. If you see it growing in a natural area it is most likely a fairly high quality remnant prairie or a very high priority restoration. This was taken along the north branch bike trail AR

Look who is hiding in this obedient plant flower?

If you see bees at night in flowers, chances are these are males who are waiting for females.

Look at this cute sweat bee feeling on the Michigan Lily pollen. You know it's been pretty consistent with Michigan Lilly bc the pollen on her underside is orange just like the one on the lily

Well hello my beauties, I hope you visit some golden alexanders to layout eggs afterwards

I like gardens, and I strongly believe native plants in your garden can help, but if you appreciate that beauty you got to give it up to remnant prairies - more about that at some.point

This here is a rare small drops, related to your prairie sundrops or Missouri sundrops but TINY - small and cute, adorable and rare . This is why our gardens are extension of the natural habitat but that also needs to be perserved and stewarded

It's

Caring for pollinators is not just the floral resources (which is important) but also host plant species.

Host plants are plants necessary for the larval stage development for many insects, or in case of bees, the specific floral resource a bee needs.

No host plant = no 🦋 and other insects

And if you are like "fine I don't like insects" no insects translates to no birds. 97% of chicks are fed with insects including caterpillars - thousands for one flock

So grow the right plants , they are the bottom of the food chain and cause a domino effect (or lack of them also causes a domino effect but in the negative way)

In the past few years we have been hearing a lot about planting milkweeds to save the monarchs.. And that makes sense monarchs rely milkweed as caterpillars as the only food source and then nectarong resources in the fall as they are migrating south to Mexico.

I wanted to show you some less frequently planted in gardens milkweeds such as this purple milkweed. Purple milkweed is a Conservative plant, meaning they only grow in habitats that have not experienced a lot of disturbance. They prefer Savannas which means part sun. And have a stunning purple color.

Their populations have been declining over the last few decades. So When you're able to see one in the Wild, Consider yourself lucky

The purple and blues in the garden

🚨 non-native plant post🚨

I really try to concentrate on native plants but once in a while some non native, non agressive plant comes around that charms me. Today it is the tulip display at

Beautiful colors, shapes and textures. Perhaps they don't serve pollinators but the combination does stop you in your tracks

REDBUD

Trees and their flowers are super important in spring - they are THE source of nectar and pollen for emerging bees (forget the dandelions )

One of the most graceful trees is the redbud, a small understand tree, naturalny more prevalent a bit more south of Chicagoland but widely used here. It is lovely - just look at that fuchsia color!

Another benefit is the diversity in bloom. Redbuds are in the legume family SO (with the help of bacteria) they pull nitrogen out of the thin air and put it in our soil. But back to the diversity in bloom - the flowers have a different shape benefiting other pollinators and that is also good