Cinquefoil in the pollinator garden at CWFO. Credit: Greg Van Stralen.

Contax Zeiss 28-70 T* 3.5 - 4.5

Look closely and you can see the pollen on the bee's abomen and hind legs. The 12-50 EZ does a decent job at its 43mm macro setting, though at some point I'd love to get the dedicated 60mm.

Pollinators

Milkweed provides food for the Monarch butterfly, it also supports other pollinators such as honey bees that are vital to agriculture. Milkweed also provides homes for beneficial insects that control the spread of destructive insects. Dianne Johnson photographer, USDA photo

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, California, USA.

The plant I identified is catnip (Nepeta cataria). Catnip is native to Europe but is a naturalized wildflower throughout the United States.

This flower displays bilateral symmetry, and a slightly tubular flower, however the flower has a wide mouth and the reproductive parts extend beyond the tubular part of the flower, so it will be classified as not tubular. Based on the pollinator key, beetles, bee-like flies,carrion flies, or moths are not likely pollinators. The remaining possible pollination systems are bees, bats, and wind, with butterflies and birds being less likely.

A. A total five pollinators of four different types of visited this plant in a fifteen-minute period.

B. The visitors did not match my predictions for the flower.

C. The total number of pollinators per hour is 20.

D. This site has a higher than average number of pollinators.

E. Yes, pollinator service is probably a proxy for other kinds of ecosystem variables. If any other ecosystem variable such as soil quality or water filtration were to change, it could affect any number of other variables in the ecosystem, it could changing the composition of the site overall by providing conditions that different plant species prefer, and potentially altering reproductive or feeding sites for pollinators.

Photo: joyce-road.blogspot.com/2012/08/wildflower-catnip.html

Close up shot of a bee in the garden last summer.

Milkweed provides food for the Monarch butterfly, it also supports other pollinators such as honey bees that are vital to agriculture. Milkweed also provides homes for beneficial insects that control the spread of destructive insects. Dianne Johnson photographer, USDA photo

Unidentified wasp pollinating Penstemon unilateralis on the Sugarloaf trail west of Boulder, CO.

Bee collecting nectar on coneflowers. Dianne Johnson photographer, USDA photo

A western honeybee (Apis mellifera) pollinating lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia) in western Oregon. © Michael Durham / www.DurmPhoto.com

Flies pollinating Euphorbia barnardii at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, South Africa

Bee collecting nectar on sunflower. Dianne Johnson photographer, USDA photo

Pollination

Pollinator garden.

Taken this summer at the Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor, ME.

female fig pollinator ~2-3mm long

Amazing to watch this in motion.

P.S. I quit 365 :D

Gordon Johnson and Donald Siefrit Year one of 2 year DDA/USDA specialty crop block grant

Bumble Bee level view of Purdy's Bells, Fritillaria purdyi.

Project 7 x 52: Pollinators. I found dozens of varieties on a just a few plants in the Peace Garden in Bear River.

Bumble bees and a honey bee.

Been sidelined with a pulled back muscle for a week. Finally better so Lori and I went out to the Rock Garden and Rose Garden between rain showers. The rock Garden is much more colourful this year than last!

hoverfly

pollinator

photo by Rachel Davis

Potter's Lane, Heber, UT

Milkweed provides food for the Monarch butterfly, it also supports other pollinators such as honey bees that are vital to agriculture. Milkweed also provides homes for beneficial insects that control the spread of destructive insects. Dianne Johnson photographer, USDA photo

A worker Eastern Bumble Bee braces herself on the petals of a hosta flower while reaching the nectar reservoir with her long tongue. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, September 12, 2022.