Cucumber-leaf Sunflower

Last year I planted Helianthus debilis ssp. cucumerifolius, Cucumber-leaf Sunflower at the far end of the sunflower/herb border. These annual sunflowers are a native of  southwestern Georgia but have spread further north. Interestingly, they have only spread as far north as Macon in the interior of the state but they have spread all the way up the coast to New England.






When my friend Hal gave them to me, he warned me that they reseeded readily. The plants he gave me came from middle Georgia in the sandhill region so I wasn't sure they would really grow well up here.

I think I've proved (at least so far this year) that they will thrive and do well up here. In fact, the plants at the garden are bigger and started blooming before the plants 100 miles south of here! Very odd if you ask me since spring comes earlier to the south of us.  It will be interesting to see how well they do the rest of the year and what happens next year.

Vicki - Bed 41

Comfrey - a great plant for pollinators

Last week was National Pollinator Week but it is never too late to write about pollinators. It is really cool when you really "SEE" what is happening under your very nose when it comes to pollinators in your front yard.

Why are pollinators a good thing? Some plants use the wind to spread their pollen but most plants need assistance from an animal or insect to get their flowers pollinated.

If a flower doesn't get pollinated, it won't set seed i.e. make the fruits, vegetables and nuts that we (as well as the rest of the animal kingdom) eat. If we didn't have something to pollinate our fruits and vegetables, we'd be very hungry and not have such a diverse diet.

I've grown comfrey for years but never realized until this year what a great pollinator plant it is. It is hardy, lives in pots or the ground, reseeds readily, is easy to pull up when you don't want it where it has appeared and blooms from April until the end of October.

This afternoon I went outside and glanced over at my thicket of comfrey and found half a dozen bumble bees buzzing around. They make a circuit of the flowers, disappear from view then come back for another circuit around the flowers. Over and over and over again. Besides the bumble bees there are tiny native bees that are buzzing around and crawling in the flowers themselves.

Comfrey has been used for healing purposes since at least 400 B.C. I've used it as a salve to heal small "ouchies" and I have a friend that uses the dried leaves in bathwater to get rid of the itch of chiggers and ticks.  When I read up on comfrey, I found that it had been used for food, as a dye, in cosmetics and as an ornamental. (Internal use is NOT recommended any more.)

I've planted a baby plant by the birdbath at the garden and we'll see how well it does there.  Anything that blooms at least 7 months of the year and is used by multiple pollinators deserves a home in one of our pollinator borders.

Pollinators in the Garden

To celebrate National Pollinator week, I spent quite a bit of time chasing bees, beetles, wasps and flies in the garden trying to take their pictures.  It was interesting how few honeybees I actually saw in the garden doing their job. They aren't missing, they just prefer the clover that is blooming in the grass. But don't worry, we do have lots of pollinators working in the garden! 

Most vegetables need something to pollinate their flowers
to form fruit. This tomato obviously has had a visitor or two.

One of the hardest working insects in the garden are the
 bumblebees. Sunday I found them pollinating squash,
 cucumber, tomato, pepper, artichoke and okra flowers.

Notice the pollen sacs on the legs of this bee! It has already visited quite a few flowers
to gather this much pollen. Can you find the tiny little pollinator in this picture? 



Pollen is dusted over the entire body of this bumblebee! It was fun
 watching it circle around and around the artichoke flower and crawl
through the flower gathering as much nectar and pollen as it could.

 

A lady bug (also known as a lady beetle) was busy
inside a cucumber flower.

This sunflower had quite a few different species of native
 bees and wasps busily working away on it. .

Passion vines provide nectar for butterflies and are also a host plant for Gulf Fritillary caterpillars.
Look at the far left of the picture and you can see a  caterpillar  hard at work eating the leaves of the plant.

Two native bees flying in to visit the onion flowers. It really is amazing how many insects
 utilize the them. Next year I'm going to plant onions in the pollinator border just so
 they will flower and attract more pollinators to the garden.