Blog – Page 4 – St. Louis Native Plants

Vector Control & Mosquito Spraying

This post has less to do with strictly native plants and more to do with being informed about the impacts of insecticides on beneficial insects, including bees. More Native Plants = More Native Pollinators, especially bees. In my own yard, by the end of this summer, I counted up to 16+ native bee species, including...

October 18, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

What’s the Purpose of Poison Ivy?

Toxicodendron radicans, also known as poison ivy, is a native plant. While I am not going to recommend anyone go out and find this plant to collect and put in their own landscape, I do want to point out some benefits of it so maybe we can all appreciate it from a distance. While many...

October 17, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Pearl Crescent & Aster

The aster has already been at the center of a previous post, but it seemed worthy of another since it has attracted so many pollinators. One new addition along with this year’s addition of the aster is the Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) butterfly. Aster is a host plant for it’s larva and the adults seem...

September 30, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Lanceleaf Coreopsis & Fiery Skipper

New visitor to our yard as of late: the Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus). Fiery Skipper caterpillars feed on different grasses. This adult skipper is nectaring on a native Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), a flower that spreads a bit, so it needs some room even though it is only about two feet tall. Goldfinches love seed...

September 29, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Video: Monarch Caterpillar & Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

This is footage of a Monarch caterpillar feeding on a Common Milkweed plant. Monarch caterpillars are specialists, meaning they can only feed on one type of plant. They are specialists on milkweed plants making milkweeds the only host plants for this caterpillar. Milkweed plants contain a substance that is toxic to typical predators of most...

September 22, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Smooth Aster & Woodland Skipper

Currently in bloom is the Smooth Aster (Aster laevis.) This is a lovely light purple flower in the daisy family that thrives in full sun to light shade and dry weather. It blooms from September through October, so this is an ideal perennial plant to add some color to your garden later into the fall....

September 15, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Special Edition (not St. Louis native): Giant Sequoia

Though it is not a native Missouri plant, this post is going to feature the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) native to parts of California. Since we are just getting back from visiting Sequoia National Park, it seems appropriate to feature these impressive trees in a post. These are not the same trees as the coastal...

September 6, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Video: Melissodes bimaculata on Sorghastrum nutans

This black, two-spotted abdomen bee (as the name “bimaculata” indicates) is a long-horned bee. The video includes a female gathering pollen from Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) on the scopa, or hair, of her hind legs.

August 23, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

Prairie Dock & Agapostemon Sweat Bee

Meet our first featured herbaceous perennial: Silphium terebinthinaceum, or Prairie Dock. This plant loves full sun and can handle drought to somewhat moist soil conditions. Soil does not need to be amended as Prairie Dock does just fine in poor soil. The basal foliage gets to about three feet tall (sometimes the leaves themselves get...

August 20, 2014BySusieVdRInBlog

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