tags: Gaillardia pulchra, Image of the Day
This is a small Gaillardia pulchra bloom from a young plant I grew from wildseed and then placed in the W. 11th St. Park butterfly and pollinator garden. This is a long bloomer that will keep pushing out flowers even when one is neglectful of deadheading old blooms.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
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White pairie aster, Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
28 October 2006
Biosparite writes; This tiny aster, about 8 mm or so, was driving a lot of the bee and butterfly nectaring activity this past summer at the W. 11th st. Park. People with…
tags: Whirlabout, grass skipper, butterfly, Polites vibex, Image of the Day
Female Whirlabout, Polites vibex.
Image: Biosparite. [larger view]
The photographer writes: I encountered this species of grass skipper earlier this afternoon in the West 11th St. Park. It is nectaring at volunteers of…
Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens
Notice the beautifully delicate body coloration and nearly invisible black veination in the otherwise transparent wings.
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
October 2006
Biosparite writes; While I visited the West 11th st. Park, I was fortunate…
tags: leafcutter bees, Image of the Day
Leafcutter bees in W. 11th St. Park Nesting Boxes. Look for the diagnostic hair on the ventral surface of the abdomen, which the bee rubs over composite flowers to trap pollen.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
Very nice !-Is it an annual or perrenial?
This is a perennial. The clumps can get quite large in SE Texas. There is at least one species of leafcutter bee in the Houston area that favors this flower very much. Leafcutters have a hairy ventral surface to their abdomens for gathering pollen. One can watch a leafcutter rubbing its abdomen against the composite flowers. The bees are quite efficient, spending very little time on each blossom. I once watched a hummingbird compete with a leafcutter for access to a flower, only to be driven out of my yard at high speed by an angry bee.