What pollinators like

I did a quick tour around the backyard to see which of the flowers are attracting the interest of local pollinators. Eupatorium 'Phantom' (dwarf Joe Pye weed, eupatoire naine) is evidently close enough to our native Eupatoriadelphus maculatus (formerly Eupatorium maculatum) to attract our native bees. (I got this recently at Valumart at 50% off!) Helianthus annuus (sunflower, tournesol) is a reliable bee attractor (unless you get one of the newfangled pollenless varieties, which may be lovely cutflowers but are useless for pollinators and seed-eaters). Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower, echinacée pourpre), although not quite native here (we're a bit too far north and east), is a favourite of humans as well as pollinators. (Another 50% off deal!) Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan, rudbeckie dressée) is always abuzz. Finally, mint (Mentha sp., menthe), which grows as a weed in the backyard, is a hive of activity when in bloom.

What flowers are attracting pollinators in your garden?

Beautiful Eumorpha pandorus: another reason to grow native plants!

On the wall of the Danforth/Coxwell Library, my son and I were thrilled to spot this big (8-9 cm) beautiful moth, who was kind enough to stay put while we ran home to get a camera and bug book.

This beauty is intriguingly named Pandora sphinx moth (sphinx Pandore). Its larval hosts include Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, vigne vierge de Virginie), and sure enough there is a Virginia creeper climbing on the wall of the library, which I photographed last year. (The larvae also feed on Vitis spp. (grapes, raisins).

I have been meaning to get some Virginia creeper growing in the backyard, and seeing this beautiful moth makes me all the more determined.

Big beautiful beetle, Pelidnota punctata

When cutting back the neighbour's encroaching grapevines, I discovered this beautiful insect, a whopping 2 cm long, and was actually able to get a decent photo! (The bug was so still when I caught it that I thought it was dead, but after a few minutes it rubbed its face and started nibbling the leaf.)

This beauty is a grapevine beetle (scarabée ponctué de la vigne), an eastern North American relative of the sacred scarab beetle of ancient Egypt. The adults eat grape leaves and fruit, and other plants as well such as Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, vigne vierge de Virginie), but are not considered a major pest of vineyards. The eggs are laid in rotting wood or soil, and the larvae (grubs) feed on roots. Both larvae and adults are nocturnal, which I guess is why this little(ish) one was inactive when I found it—it was drowsy!

Cabbage butterfly

So far my attempts to attract butterflies to the garden have not been a rip-roaring success, but there are some visitors. The most common lepidopteran I've seen in the garden is the cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae), which originated in Eurasia but is now widespread here in North America. This is a male; the females have two black spots on each forewing. Cabbage butterfly larvae feed on plants in the Brassicacea family, the adults feed on nectar. (I mention this because some butterflies prefer fruit, rotting carrion, or dung!)

The aphids' days are numbered

Look who showed up at the ants' aphid farm!

Ladybugs are such enthusiastic predators of aphids that they are often purchased just for this purpose. I've read that this is unreliable as the ladybugs are apt to fly away when released instead of staying in your garden. If you do want to buy ladybugs, get a native species (check here to see which ladybugs in Ontario are native). Unfortunately, the bug here seems to be the invasive Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis), introduced to control pests, which has an annoying practice of overwintering in peoples' houses! The Asian lady beetle can have many different colours and markings; it is distinguished from native ladybugs by the white markings on and behind the head, which surround a black "M" or "W".

The bright colouring of the ladybug is a warning to other predators that ladybugs secrete a toxin when attacked.

Aphids and ants

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I think this is cool.

This year, Toronto has a shortage of ladybugs, and a larger-than-usual population of aphids. There are a few colonies of aphids on various plants around the garden (mostly the goldenrods), and just lately the ants have started coming to tend the aphids. Aphids feed on the plant's sap, and excrete sugary "honeydew", which the ants like eating so much they help protect the aphids.

If the aphids were on something I wanted to eat, or on some fabulously expensive plant, I would probably remove them somehow. But since they're on the goldenrod, I'm just enjoying witnessing this symbiotic relationship.

By the way, the shortage of ladybugs this year may be due to a lack of aphids last year, so by leaving my aphids alone hopefully there will be more ladybugs next year.