Pollinator Parkways

I'm not sure if anything brings me more simple happiness than wildlife enjoying my little garden. This gorgeous queen bombus sippin on my red flowering currant on a sunny day is enough to make me smile. I hope it makes you smile too.

Magical goldenrod (solidago canadensis) is tough enough for parking strips and are ridiculous magnets for a lot of wildlife. Hummingbirds bees grasshoppers butterflies wasps spiders katydids - I've found them all in this narrow patch.
Despite its name it's native range is enormous - from Alaska to Texas most of the US except the far southeast.

We think of summer as a time of abundance and heavy blooming. But a walk around your neighborhood may show that surprisingly few things are in bloom and those that are may have no bees on them at all. Pearly everlasting ( Anaphalis margaritacea)is a modest drought tolerant flower with blossoms that go on for weeks. They are especially important to native butterflies as a host plant.

A past PPW participant reached out to tell me that milkweed that I helped distribute to their neighborhood brought monarchs to their garden. Those monarchs laid eggs, and the eggs hatched, and these folks asked if I'd like to release some of them in my garden! I of course said yes, and this morning released three gorgeous females who took off almost too quickly for me to even snap one-handed shots.
They will journey to California where they will hopefully safely overwinter. They worked with Washington State University to even tag the beauties before releasing.
I'm so grateful and really loved this experience!