Inspired by City Farmer

 Earlier this month I spent a lovely afternoon in the garden at City Farmer. I was happy to find Sharon and Michael sitting out the quiet rain shower and chatting about garden stuff. I was charmed by a hummingbird coming down to have a wee sip at the Verbena bonariensis. This plant also attracts butterflies and bees and can be planted instead of buddleia, even though it is not as "moreish" as the Butterfly Bush. I like how each stem  has three stems which in turn bear three stems. It's like a delicate candelabra.

When the rain let up I took a few photos of some of the inspired and inspiring planting.
 These orange cosmos are perfect for matching the colors of fall flowers.

These lovely insect hotels are maintained by the resident "Bug Lady" at City Farmer, Maria Keating.

Be sure to check out City Farmer's award winning blog by Michael Levenston and go see the garden to get yourself inspired!

Cypress Community Garden Pollinators

Madame Beespeaker had a marvelous day off today doing some of her favorite things: eating lunch at Aphrodite's Organic Delights, touring gardens and thrift shopping. Yes! These lovely bees are enjoying the vanilla scented Joe Pye Weed in the Cypress Community Garden. Note the odd morphology of these blossoms. I am not seeing much pollen here. I like capturing more than one bee on a plant. Bees seem to like to have space around them when they forage, much like me at the supermarket checkout. If someone gets in my personal bubble, I need to take a deep breath and  try to shift to  get away from the tailgater. The other day it was hot, I had a migraine and I snapped: "Could you please give me some space?"  I mean the woman was acting like I wasn't there and it was really bugging me.

I see bees bump one another out of their personal bubble, even bees of their own ilk. The larger bees often win, but not always. Sometimes the plant is so delectable that they tolerate the nearness of other bees. Kind of like me, when I'm tucking in to Aphrodite's delectable vegan cheesecake. I am very focused. Everything else in my range of vision melts away as I immerse myself in the cheesecake and nothing but the cheesecake and my iced chai. Does Joe Pye weed taste like vanilla cheesecake to a bee?

It was overcast today and I saw a few yellow leaves fall here and there. At first I would think it was a butterfly, but my heart sank as I saw it was a yellow leaf or two fluttering to the shadows on the ground.  I have had migraines the last two days with the humidity and heat, so today was a welcome relief. I can see into the future on days like this, and I spent the day imagining dresses inspired by bee and hummingbird plants. I was quickly brought to earth by the Chinese Canadian lady who owns the second hand store where I was perusing dresses. "That will never fit you," she said bluntly, "Maybe a friend, but not you, lady." Thump. Sound of a dreamer's dreams hitting the floor.

Can't you imagine a gown inspired by brown-eyed Susans and sneezeweed?

These gardens along the railway tracks are fascinating. Bordered by a hedgerow of blackberry they form pollinator corridors in our city. Linked up with gardens on bike lanes, they would form a strong network of passages for birds and insects. Wouldn't it be wonderful to turn all the disused rail lines into pollinator corridors across Canada? Told you I was in a dreamin' mood.

By the time I saw this skipper sipping nectar from a cosmos I was ready to head to Beaucoup Bakery for an iced tea. There should be tea rooms at regular intervals along the national pollinator pathways. Make mine jasmine green tea with a hint of rose and a fat brioche stuffed with hazelnut cream.

As I saw a honeybee attempt to sip nectar from one of these hardy fuschias it occurred to me that this plant is almost like a bee plant wearing a humming bird plant--purple underskirt for the bee, and red cape for the hummers, but those long stamens are definitely bird-sized. I wonder if these get robbed for nectar or if the double structure prevents that from happening. Watch your fuschias and tell me what you see!

Skippers and a New Insect Hotel

 I have been noticing a lot of skippers lately all around the city. They are so plucky and playful. I like their attitude. This is a skipper in the snowberry (still blooming!!!) at the Moberly Cultural Herb Garden. (Have you got your red dress for the party this Sunday????)

 This is a small buddleia at the Oak Meadows park. It is a shame that most buddleia are invasive* here in Vancouver because they are great bee, butterfly and hummingbird plants. In fact, after I took this picture, I stood up and startled a hummingbird feeding from this plant. This afternoon I spent a good ten minutes watching an Anna's female feed in my neighbor's towering 18 ft buddleia. The bees were all over it as well. The Anna's even fought with a smaller hummer (perhaps a female rufous) to defend "her" bush. There was no squeaking, just the clacking of beaks like tiny swords. About a half and hour later there was a flock of bush tits in the buddleia, feeding on bugs. It was funny to see them land on a branch and sproing up and down on it.

 You can see her tongue go into the orange center of the floret.

 Erin Udal from the Environmental Youth Alliance says the yarrow in Oak Meadows Park has bee supporting the bees since the lupins finished. We discussed how plants like yarrow can be empty in some gardens and teeming with insects in others.

There are a variety of wasps out now and bees that look like wasps, so it all gets very confusing. But this wasp is acting like a bee.

These twins love phacelia.

This is an empty ladybug pupae case on tansy, which is an escaped old world herb. The honey bees and bumble bees were visiting this plant as well.

 Check out this fabulous new insect hotel made from a decommissioned phone booth by Contexture Design!

 *You must cut off the seed heads of the buddleia before they mature. Plant breeders are developing less fertile cultivars, but the pollen and nectar rewards may not be the same as the weedy ones. We have one that grows out of a crack in the sidewalk in front of our house.

Bees Love Vetch

Yesterday I talked to the Moberly Remix summer camp kids about butterfly plants. There are a couple of Buddleja bushes near the entrance to the Community Centre that the Anise Swallowtails are enjoying right now, and I noticed that this vetch is climbing around a couple of plants in the herb garden. Vetch does double duty as a bee and butterfly plant. It is delicate and climbs upward on our snowberry bushes and artichokes without harming the plants. Vetch is also a nitrogen fixer. Honeybees and bumble bees love it!

The Joe Pye weed (see the post below) is also a nectar source for the swallowtail butterfly family.



Check out this snowberry that is fruiting and flowering at the same time--it's such a good bee plant.

This little bee is too bushed to boogie. I took the photo at about 7:30 pm when all good little bees are in bed. He's curled around the leaf of Jupiter's beard.