Well you just proved me wrong… I think… which is great. I think I dont have bull thistle but its just what i call all the big thistles i see…
Im not sure if mine is field thistle or Canada Thistle… as i enjoy it mostly from afar.
But i want field thistle now if i dont have it… it looks magnificent!
I NEED Swamp Thistle too… for my wetland gazing area.
Probably Canada thistle, it’s all over, didn’t know it was non-native
I had no idea about all these different species I just lumped them all together
Do yours have the prickly rosette at the base of the stem? I reckon that’s the main thing that makes me dislike them.
I dont traipse much on my ‘gazing areas’ other than the deep fall when i spread seed etc. But i am interested to know myself.
The honey bees (and a few bumbles) have been absolutely loving the sunchokes. Seem to be a great late season food source. Great Pyrenees for scale.
These aren’t even my bees. I don’t know who has bees around here or if they’re wild honey bees but they’re over at my place regularly
If anyone has wild New England Asters growing… i would like as many seeds as you can give/sell/trade.
I went to Ohio this weekend and was amazed at how beautiful they are… I have not seen any near where i live… ever.
It’s beautiful! I’ll have tons of seeds shortly from my behemoth. Can mail. Deer will prune them, but that’s not a bad thing. Oddly, deer seem to leave Aromatic aster alone. It’s smaller, denser, a lighter purple, and blooms start after New England.
I have going several kinds of asters… many many thousands of them the bees load up this time of year on them as they are some of the last flowers to feed on.
The New England Asters i saw in Ohio were all kinds of heights… from 2 feet tall to 6 feet tall… some looked like their own shrubs… while others were knee height.
All were in drought stricken hellstrips all along the highway…
Looked to be great to spread on areas where mostly only ‘weeds’ grow…
I’ve always been reluctant to spend time planting flower seeds around my farm.
My daughter is a photographer and likes the local flower patches to take family pictures. I thought I’d plant some to see if I could help her out.
I planted a mix, zinnias, cosmos, and a deer resistant mix. For photography it was a total dud, but more people enjoyed those flowers than all my fruit trees. Plus a constant rotation of butterflies, moths, bees, and hummingbirds enjoyed them.
Some buddies from high school and I went camping, high school was 50 years ago. He had a spot on his property that he quit mowing, and I was amazed at the butterflies. Iron weed and natural flowers was a big hit with them.
I’m hooked now.
I had our granddaughter out at the farm today, and she rode a little electric motorbike we bought, around and she stopped at each milkweed spot to look for monarchs every time she drove by them. They hatched out about 10 monarchs this year.
Plus my daughter picked a big bouquet of Cosmos and Zinnias to take home.
Never thought I’d get so much pleasure from my flowers.
The wheels are already rolling in my head for next year. I have 4 new places to plant and hopefully have nice flowers for photography and an abundance of flowers for the pollenators and beneficial insects.
What a pleasurable surprise for my effort.
Definately a reward for me as i get older on the areas where if i was a younger man i would mow (and did mow).
The area that amazes me the most is a true hellstrip that i burned a sycamore tree. It took tires, diesel fuel, used motor oil and everything i had to make that sycamore go away. Surely the earth was magma underneath… but in a couple of years of me tossing spent soils and then some leaves and manure its nearly a paradise now.
I tossed handfuls of native flowers that i enjoyed by the roadside along with milkweeds and other things and its one of my favorite gazing areas now.
It doesnt take much to achieve a beautiful area… and the rewards of pollinators and beneficials that come are more rewarding than a good job mowing… to me.
Gosh, it’s a long way to Michoacan!
For sure. Granted, first frost is still a month or two away here, so they have time to get gone.
I went there in the 90s… to the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. (College trip for Biologists).
Totally mind blowing experience… but not as mind blowing as their life cycle to make it here to my little nook of the world.
I have been noticing some crab spiders… very enjoyable to watch. As i have been gazing my bees feeding on Asters.
Not my pic-
More info on blue wood Aster
This weekend i had a ‘swarm’ of honeybees come to the farm/orchards. Thousands of them. They wanted my chicken feed. My bags that i feed the chickens with as well as the chicken feeders were loaded and swarming with bees. I have no idea if they are my local bees or someone keeping bees somewhere…
The weather was in the mid 60s and i guess they were starving?
I put out some apples and other things but they had no interest in anything but the chicken feed and scratch. I wonder if it was the molasses or sugars or something in it?
I hope they found a home here somewhere… im not sure how far honey bees travel or if this is something uncommon. But in my lifetime i have never seen anything like it.
I’ve read that they will swarm chicken feed when protein sources are low.
That might be why considering if they’re leaving apples alone.
might be worthwhile to leave a small bowl of feed out for them as well.
I bought some extra bird seeds for the birds but it looks like the birds only want peanuts. I’ve been back for less than a week and my local birds are already spoiled enough to demand only their favorites.
