September's Featured Bee

The month of September in my North American Native Bee Calendar purchased from the Great Sunflower Project, features the Longhorn Bee, genus Melissodes.

These bees emerge in late summer and nest in the ground. They are small to medium sized with golden brown hairs over much of their bodies. Both sexes have a fuzzy thorax and noticeably hairy legs. The males are smaller than the females and have particularly long antennae. To view images of Longhorned Bees click here.

Many plants of the Asteraceae family, such as sunflowers, are highly dependent upon these bees for cross pollination.

You might spot a Longhorn Bee if you grow cosmos, blanketflowers, sunflowers, tickseed and beggarticks (Bidens).

In June I featured the Leafcutter Bee. Some of you said you see evidence of Leafcutters on your roses. Well, I just noticed this myself on my swamp rose!

Butterfly Garden: Helianthus Microcephalus

... Small-headed Sunflower, a native. I planted three small plants last fall. WOW! From 5-6 inches to 5-6 feet in one year! This is THE star of the border in late summer/fall. I wanted to try a perennial sunflower and will be planting more! Oh, and it is a bee-stopper, too. The bees climb over each other to land on a flower - sometimes two, three at a time. A fair amount of butterflies - Whites, Sulfurs. (Not a great butterfly year here overall for Brush-footed, Swallowtails perhaps due to the unusual rain and cooler temperatures?) Also now that the blooms have faded, the gold finches are moving in for the seeds. If you want a big and bold attraction for the fall border, I would recommend this.

Mentioning bees, have you heard of the Great Sunflower Project? Check it out and receive free Lemon Queen sunflower seeds for your garden while helping bee research: the Great Sunflower Project