Garden photography

I don't fool myself into thinking that I'm a spectacular photographer, but I do, on occasion, take a nice picture. My etsy listings and blog are peppered with photographs ranging anywhere from awful to great, but I've had several questions over the past few months about whether or not I'd considered printing them for sale.

I was motivated today and was getting some of the pictures from my father's wedding printed, and I decided to add a few pictures that I've taken outside to my order. I'll be adding them to my etsy shop, hopefully, in the next couple of days, and we'll see what happens.

Here's a series that we be part of this experiment. I took these pictures on my catmint plant that seems to be an absolute playground for bumblebees. There were close to sixty when I was taking these pictures.

Happy Pollinator Week!

By now, most of us have heard about the declining bee population and horrible predictions about that's going to affect food in the future. While the predictions may not seem as dire as they're made out to be, it's still important to understand the role that pollinators play in our day-to-day existence..

Without pollinators, not just bees, plants requiring pollination would be in a bit of a pinch. Hand pollination is possible, on a small scale, but those who have done plant propagation know that it's very time consuming and doing it on a huge scale (like enough to feed a significant portion of the population) would be expensive and nearly impossible with current technology. These animals and insects are responsible for most of the food we eat. Wind and rain can also help with pollination, but even people have a hard time stopping the overall forces of nature!

Pollinator Week came to be last year to promote the pollinators of the world and to encourage people to create habitats and an environments conducive to these important creatures' well being. This year, Pollinator Week is 22-28 June, and you can find the list of cities and states that have declared it here.

If your state or area hasn't had it declared, consider contacting your governor, mayor, or whoever's 'the boss' next year to encourage them to make the announcement. The group has a pre-written sample release that you can send, so that you don't even have to have a way with words to convey the message. The Pollinator Partnership has tons of information and handouts available to spread awareness and educate people about this important movement. So make sure to share!

The Pollinator Partnership isn't the only group spreading the word, however. The Great Sunflower Project is another group that has fun guides and offers seeds to it's participants! Although seed shipments for this year are over, the Great Sunflower Project is taking sign ups for new members. They have a pretty active forums section that will be able to answer or help you with any questions you might have.

The Great Sunflower Project is a bit more cuddly than the Pollinator Partnership, and has a bunch of resources and helps you with the best days to monitor your sunflowers for bee population. The group also offers assistance to schools and great resources to help teachers. You'll get to record your data and submit it to the group.

The information that you submit will help bring to light how bees act in suburban, home, and community gardens and the surrounding areas, ultimately leading to a greater understanding of how to keep these critters happy and get them thriving.

Photo courtesy of Wildflower444444.

If you're not interested in joining up or participating in group fashion, there are always ways that you can educate others or simply fulfill your desire to help out.

Here are some small things that you can do on your own:

• Plant a butterfly garden! Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators all have similar tastes, so the plants that are labeled for butterfly gardens are perfect choices for new additions. Remember that some plants will flower to feed adult pollinators; some will be tasty, leafy treats for the caterpillars and nymphs; and some will be both.

• Try and use as few pesticides as possible. The chemicals that you use to rid your plants of nasties also eliminates the good guys! Look online or in organic and natural gardening books for ideas on how to control the pests in your gardens without toxins that threaten pollinators (and sometimes people!) Remember, some of those 'snacks' taken out of your favorite plants leaves could be from juvenile pollinators.

• See about planting native plants. Native plants have been feeding the caterpillars, nymphs, and adult pollinators in your area for a loooong time, so they appeal to creatures that are indigenous and will help build the population. Not only that, but these natives are more able to tolerate conditions in your garden that other plants might struggle in!

Check out the following resources for information regarding pollinator and insect conservation:

The Great Sunflower Project

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
The Pollinator Partnership

And, of course, post any that are particularly near and dear to your hearts! :)

Thanks to the EtsyPHAT for their proofing and suggestions, and thank you to Wildflower444444 for her photograph!

Whoops! Slacked off on the blog!

I'm about as flighty as the big, white butterflies that are all over my gardens, these days, and completely forgot about adding to my blog. It's been so hot outside that I don't even have the excuse of being outside!

My glads are in full bloom, and they're blooming in sequence again. When we moved into this house, I had a bunch of mixed gladiolus that I dug and transplanted. Well, I don't quite know what I grabbed and didn't have them labeled, so now I have an assortment of varieties that bloom all summer. It starts out with the white and magenta flowers, then come the vibrant orange (just starting now), and then the pale, pale peach and pale pink, finishing up in the autumn with a bright red. There's genius in my forgetfulness, apparently, and I get a season of beautiful flowers that I can take inside or give to my MIL.



And, for the weekly tomato, report, here's a greeny off of one of my plants (can't remember which one) that's about the size of a tennis ball. I'll have to see if I can't get a picture of the white calf's heart -- very cool to look at.