Last week, we got together in the garden for our June meeting and the traditional potluck party. As always, the meeting part was brief and the food delicious.
In the plant world, the yellow period had begun. Currently, the most abundant flowers are from the Aster family, below a the lovely dyer’s Coreopsis and a Heliopsis. The hardy cactus, that incredibly survives even the coldest winter in New York, also has yellow flowers. Soon, they will be joined by Helianthus sunflowers and black-eyed Susans.
When the Heliopsis start blooming, the long-horn bees make their appearance. Male longhorn bees often spend the night, huddled together in one of these flowers. During the day, we can see leaf cutter bees busily collecting pollen with the hairs on their bellies, not on the legs like honey bees.
A final note about the insect world: When we wrapped up our party on Wednesday evening, we saw the first firefly of the summer! He appeared just on time for the shortest nights of the year. Which reminds me: tomorrow is the summer solstice and thus the day of “Make Music”. The garden has lined up three bands this year. We are looking forward to hearing their music.