There is such a thing as National Pollinator Week. It's this week.
Yesterday, when I was cleaning 20 pints of strawberries for the freezer, Cultivating Place podcast kept me company. I had no idea this week was such a big thing. Somewhat locally, the fountain in Peterborough will be illuminated in recognition of National Pollinator Week on the 24th and City Hall will be lit on the 24th and 25th. Throughout Canada and the US and even in places like Algeria and Israel, events are being held this week to draw attention to pollinators. Cool interactive map here.
The gardens have been hoed, thistles pulled out of the ditch along the road, 10 bunches of thyme have been bundled and labeled for FareShare folks to dry, and muffins are in the oven. Time to look for pollinators in our gardens.
Hmmm.... an insect on a peony.
Geranium (Cranesbill) is a magnet for bees. I am learning that specific bees feed on specific flowers. It makes sense to me with this one: it is quite camouflaged, the shapes of its legs are a lot like the veins in the flowers.
A little closer. And, isn't the thorax of the bee a similar shape to the geranium buds?
At the risk of geranium overload..... I thought that this view with the morning light backlighting the flower/bee even camouflaged the bee more. Hard to tell where its legs end and the stigma begins.
Our coral sunset peony still has a lot of new buds just starting to open.
Looks like pollinators did their job. The poppies are forming seed heads. These will be going into this week's bouquets.
It was very difficult to photograph this bee on the Meadow Sage. Everything was so similar that the camera had a hard time figuring out what to focus on. Different type of bee than those on the geraniums. I never knew that there are 3,600 species of bees in just North America. There are around 20,000 worldwide!
No wonder they need their own week!
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