Category: Pollinators

Garden tour of Lexington Monarch Waystations

Monarch Waystation signMONARCH WAYSTATION GARDEN TOUR
SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2015 –  10 to 5 – rain or shine
Includes 10 Lexington gardens
Tickets $10 – available at each of the following certified Monarch Waystations

Come and see how these gardeners have incorporated native plants into their landscapes to help Monarchs and other pollinators.

  1. 232 Castlewood Drive (Google map)
  2. Wild Ones’ Pollinator Garden @ Wellington Park (Google map)
  3. 224 Leawood Drive – This is our yard. I hope you’ll stop by to take a look and say hello. (Google map)
  4. St. Michael’s Church, 2025 Bellefonte Drive – please park on Libby Lane (Google map)
  5. 4 Richmond Avenue (Google map)
  6. Cardinal Hill Hospital, 2050 Versailles Road – please enter from Mason Headley Road (Google map)
  7. 124 Idle Hour Drive (Google map)
  8. Klausing Group, 1356 Cahill Drive (Google map)
  9. 571 Mitchell Avenue (Google map)
  10. 1721 Gettysburg Road (Google map)

For tour garden descriptions, visit the Lexington Wild Ones website.

I’d appreciate you sharing this with anyone else who might be interested.

 

Hummingbird at Royal Catchfly

I like bright red blossoms and so do Ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus coloubris). We are frequently seeing these tiny birds at the Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) blossoms. I wanted to get a photograph, and with camera in hand, I chose this spot to wait and hope.

Royal Catchfly and Midsummer Blooms

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Bees, butterflies, and birds

It’s good to watch to watch plants coming to life again, and I’m also glad to see more wildlife. I’m seeing more bees – large and small. I can’t identify most of them, but I can usually spot Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.). I learned recently they’re not bumble bees, although they certainly look similar. Carpenter bees have a shiny black abdomen, and are often referred to as the bee with a ‘shiny butt’. This one was getting nectar by puncturing blueberry blossoms.

Carpenter bee

Continue reading “Bees, butterflies, and birds”