No Holds Barred

Flowery landscape of October 23 - with butterfly.... and bees

On Sunday, the early morning sun was warm, and the temperature and windless condition made it seem more like early September than late October.  We released two of our captive-raised Monarchs into the landscape of yet-blooming flowers that were attracting bees at a great rate.  In fact, some of the plants I had never seen with pollinators on them until now!  Most of them, including dahlias, nearly at peak - AT PEAK! - have never been very popular with the bee set.  But today they were, along with mixed-breed nicotianas, purple ageratums, pinwheel striped marigolds, white cosmos, the ever-attractive Verbena B.(bonariensis), red and gold Gaillardias, corn marigolds, various colors of zinnias, and 'Prairie Sun' rudbeckias. Also blooming but without visitors during my observation were Mexican sunflower, the monarch plant - Asclepias curassavica, Salvia uliginosa, several David Austin roses, 'Tangerine Gem' marigolds and... and...I can't remember any more.  The garden, needless to say, was spectacular for the dates, and a-buzz with bees and more butterflies than I ever saw at the same time during the summer!  If music had been playing, it would have been full and sonorous with a memorable melody.  How could I not relate it to our release of the butterflies and that all nature concurred that it was a happy event?

Here are some photos of pollinators on the blooms of the day, including one of, well, you'll see!

Unknown tiny native bee on corn marigold

Bumblebee on Gaillardia

Honey bee on ageratum

Bumblebee aiming for Nicotiana mutabilis  hybrid

Queen bumblebee on Nicotiana

Bumblebee on dahlia

Here is a bee look-alike, a flower or hover fly, feeding on a corn marigold:

Feeding fly

But if there were stars of the day, it had to have been the released Monarchs, one of which started feeding immediately upon release.  

Monarch female on Verbena bonariensis