Grow Wild YYC

It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day ❤️☀️ blanket flower aka brown eyed Susan’s are starting to bloom! These beauties are perfect for pollinators of all kinds and to bring that beautiful colour to your space. They love full sun but will tolerate part sun to almost shade. Spreading by both roots and seed they can fill in that empty spot or offer competition for some of our more aggressive plants. No prairie garden is complete without them!

Beetles got missed on my posts but that’s not because they aren’t pollinators! In fact, it is suspected the beetles were the original pollinators before those powerhouse bees, butterflies and moths had even evolved. They aren’t great at it generally speaking but given how many beetle species there are in the world (over 400000 identified globally and over 2400 in Alberta so far!) it seems inevitable some of them wouldn’t choose flowers. There are in fact many beetles that have pollen as their main diet like this red blue checkered beetle (very creative naming). Unlike bees that can get right into a flower, beetles typically prefer large open flowers or groups of flowers like blanketflower, wild roses and this yarrow. Their larvae also make great snacks for our fledgling birds! Keep any eye out on your flowers for these beauties ❤️🪲

Yesterday we got hit by a pretty nasty hail storm, the worst I can remember for many years. I waited until today to check the damage and my goodness is there damage. The milkw**d took a big hit and even the smaller flowers weren’t spared. The hail hasn’t even melted at least 18 hours later! But there is hope. The garden is resilient and I know it will bounce back. And hey, thanks to all those battered leaves I spotted our first strawberry of the year!
Today’s lesson, even when things look bad, hope can be found and a healthy ecosystem will bounce back.
❤️🍓