#Native bees like it

[msbarrows]

Still playing around with the camera settings on my phone when I go for walks (this was #64). Took a surprisingly nice photo of a sign and some tufted vetch (with bonus bumblebee) at the top of the many flights of stairs down to the old high school (now grade school) in the bottom of what was once a gravel pit. I like the depth of field the portrait mode gives, it's much more attractive than the trying-to-be-sharp-everywhere of the regular photo mode.

Still failing to get the hang of the macro setting, even when I'm the right distance I get poor results. This was the best I managed out of multiple attempts along my route:

#MsB goes for a walk #Bumblebee #Tufted Vetch #I once won a scrabble game by spelling vetch iirc #My BIL didn't believe it was a real word and challenged #Which surprised me because he was a life-long gardener #And you see (introduced) vetch growing wild all over the place #It's a good weed #Fixes nitrogen in the soil #Native bees like it #Not toxic to animals #Cows love it #It's in the pea family #I called it 'cannonball plant' growing up because of the round black seeds

[glowpart2]

cakes i have made in recent times 🎂💐 1. vanilla bean honey raspberry yogurt cake with greek yogurt honey cream frosting , 2. orange cornmeal cake with lemon-orange curd and a whipped cream frosting .. love making cakes so much if i wasn’t committed to the academic bit i would just be a baker

#first is from yesterday i got the flowers from the farmers market in the morning and there was a native bee in one of them!! #the farmer who sold them to me was like i was picking them this morning and i noticed him in there.. life is so beautiful for real #mine

[entomologize]

I love walking by my garden to see the fruits of my labor (bees!)

#bees #BEES #the yard used to be just grass #and empty mulch #with plastic tarp underneath #like not even landscaping cloth #actual tarp #native plants #insects #gardening #wild indigo #false indigo #photography #bugblr

[ryssbelle]

My mom and her dad are the same person

#my art #comic #comics #ryss rambles #irl comic #my grandfather speaks primarily spanish #so he calls applebees appol bees #on the same night he did the evil applebees he also did something else #that was such a mood #he picked up a heavy box moved it two feet and then went #i quit #and walked away #it was so funny and i was like #thats a mood fr #when the box is too heavy i quit #but yeah my mom and grandpa dont look like theyre related but you talk to them and they are the same person #they have the same evil laugj #and the same humor #they call each other silly names in spanish #and theyre both very handy #they renovate houses together as like a hobby #we're puerto rican btw #my moms family is taino native which also extends to me teehee

[what-do-bunyips-look-like]

Just got an ID on inaturalist for a bee thats literally never been observed on there before?? Like theres only one observer and its me??? Feels like a mistake but its by a bee expert with 1416463 identifications????

#inaturalist #inat #this would be sooo cool but very hard to believe the first time this bee would be observed is in my herb garden #want to ask his reasoning but not sure how to politely be like bee expert are you sure? #to me it looks identical to the other non native bees in my garden

[foxqueen-katarian]

I'm buying myself apple trees and decided I wanted to get some that are less common (I can buy the common ones at the store I want special apples), and stumbled across a variety I've never heard of before that originated on a farm fifteen minutes from where I live.

I'm trying to figure out how many I can fit in my back yard.

#they're native #the bees will love them (the reason I'm looking into apple trees) #also the deer #because if I don't like how they taste the deer and porcupines will

[cafffine]

why did someone. to my face. just defend the ‘honey is not vegan’ argument by saying “yeah but honestly it’s commonly known to vegans that the honey bees that are used for mass produced honey aren’t native to a lot of the places they’re farmed so it’s just another animal product doing damage to the-”

PLEASEEEEEEE look at me right now and tell me that the millions of acres of soy beans in the midwest are a nonharmful fully native peace and love product. tell me that with a straight face.

#like ok let’s have a conversation about honey bees being non native and chasing out native pollinators #but literally that is the case for like. every agricultural product in the supermarket rn so what the fuck are u saying #WHATEVER…..!!!!! #double shot

[taylorswiftshipsbyler]

I didnt feel like writing a card for my mom's bday so instead I decorated the box that the chocolates I always get her come in☺️☺️

also. I can name all of the flowers/plants on here.

milkweed

lavender

sword ferns

jasmine

goldenrod

sunflowers

some random mushrooms in a plantain plant (plantains are actually really cool weeds that might grow in your yard. you can use them to soothe bug bites!)

violets

snapdragons

bleeding hearts

aloe

clover(like the little flowers)

virginia bluebells

and honeysuckle!!

and then there's also little bumblebees that I drew to fill up the empty spaces

#plants #its my moms birthday today so this is her present #these are mostly native to our area #my moms really into gardening #and one year she spent several months learning about bees to prepare to get a bee hive #and then we found out that our borough didnt allow them😓 #but now she loves bees a lot #and likes to plant plants that are really good for them and other pollinators #and we have like a yard with 2 different parts #so the part closest to the house is like a normal yard #and she has garden best there for vegetables n stuff #and then the back part has like a little stream by it #and she just lets all the plants grow #except for some paths and a space for our fireplace #but she did rip up some red vines with thorns on them #turns out they were and invasive type of rose #and then a bunch of milkweed grew there!! #which if you dont know is really good for butterflies! #but my mom is like a really amazing person #i love her so much and shes so cool #and shes also like really involved with our local politics #and one time she went to the school board to keep a book from being banned #but shes just like #the best mom i could ever ask for #my art #native plants

[pastafossa]

@your-not-invisible-to-me wanted to see the finished yard/yard of the dragon lair and I'm happy to show it off!

There are now ALL native plants planted which will grow in over the course of the next two years and fill the yard! There's also thyme planted in the pathway, which will grow to fill in between the painted bricks like grass (and it will be PINK!). Baby Nessie has a pond to swim in with Croki nearby, Baby Sue has a corner with tall grass, and Nigel the reading dragon is taking up his bench!

And here's a closeup of some of the bricks, all of which were painted by my mom - some from online designs and some just out of her own thoughts like the cat brick with all our cats! Over time, the plantings of thyme (har har) will fill in the dirt as groundcover, leaving a magical pathway of small pink flowers and colored bricks. 😊

#pasta life update #the yard is SO FUCKING COOL I AM SO HAPPY #the dudes had never helped make a yard like this before and they love it #full credit to my mom she's an artist and literally mapped out the yard based on colors and decorations #and the BRICKS were a perfect touch! #and now all the native plants will help the bees! #already saw some out gathering on the flowers! #and in 2 or 3 years this yard will become super low maintenance when the plants are established #gardening #yards #organic yards #down with grass

[macaroonkitti]

Saw some native bees I was very authrhejfjwjakwkt about it :D

#managed to ID them after like 20 minutes #leafcutter bee and a mason bee #very happy I saw them i never see native bees #can you tell I wanna be a zoology major

[snekdood]

the cringe nihilistic "personal impact means nothing so why even try" vs the chad "or i could be one of the only people in my apartment complex that grows native plants and lets native animals live in them in what is otherwise a desolate hellscape of grass"

#sometimes personal impact does actually matter #sometimes YOU'RE the only one who gives a shit #but it starts with you. and then other people catch on. #by seeing you have a good time w plants and native wildlife other ppl wanna start doing it too #the experience is too rewarding not to want to. its also really meditative taking care of a garden. #so far ive seen bats hummingbirds i had a wasp nest up here and they never stung me we like just *got* eachother yknow #i literally had to reach over them to water plants and they still never stung me. ive had mason bees. ive obviously had honey bees and #bumble bees. i even saw a fuckin tree frog. its so fun. theres always birds on my balcony. theres a bird on my blacony rn w eggs #im making my own lil micro habitat over here sdjfsjvhgd

[soldier-poet-king]

Not me. Planning native pollinator container gardens at work. I need a will to live. I have no land. I can probs convince my mother to allow me a few planters in the backyard if they're unobtrusive and don't impact her (ill kept horrible mulch reliant) garden or the tomatoes. Yes it's still Actively Cold and might still snow here. But I'm. SO DESPERATE FOR LIFE AND GREEN

#please. please. i just need to stick my hands in the dirt and hope that smthn lives #(also BEES) #might just buy some large ass ugly containers at walmart or the thrift store and use those #not planting perennials bc this is not my permanent abode #and so i guess it could be construed as a waste of money #but i am. so desperate. to grow smthn #i cant even have houseplants my room is in the basement theres NO natural light at all #but ontario pollinators!!! (and also maybe some forget me nots bc i cant resist and they're my fave and also good fillers) #and theyre not invasive just non native #also i have no space to germinate seeds (and its late in the season anyway) #so ill have to buy from the nursery #which again. maybe its a waste of money #but im SO desperate #and also i hate hate hate my mothers mulch garden #WHERE ARE YOUR GROUNDCOVER PLANTS. WHY IS THE LAWN SO BARREN #gonna commit eco terrorism on my parents lawn #they OWN land and they WASTE THIS BLESSED OPPORTUNITY #do u know what i would do with a garden a fraction the size od her flowerbed #my father hates dandelions and loves the military and tbh i think that's all u need to know #actively like #gonna rip out the mulch. plant native grouns covers which will grow better than grass anyway #like!!! it will REDUCE weeds and empty soaces #obvs not in the tomato bed but in the flower area????

[mothusband]

took this photo of a bumblebee today 💛

#probably the best photo ive ever taken! so glad im feeling like getting my camera out again #i have some other pics from today ill be posting in a min #bees #bumblebees #bumble bees #native bees #insects #insect photography #photography #my photography

[cruelsister-moved2]

not sad anymore (saw a butterfly)

#we get 1 billion cabbage whites per day bit peacocks r my fav #verbena bonariensis the butterflies LOVE #and mallow the bees r loving #which is native #did try to grow some native achillea for the butterflies but the bare roots I got were like decrepit and never came to anything-_-

[theplantqueer]

dichondra repens, native kidneyweed - when this place was done up a bit before i moved in, they nuked the yard (including with something that was killing the honeybees for a while there) and started over, ironically killing off all the remaining elements of native ecosystems to achieve a perfectly landscaped "native garden". Half the plants are not even native to this area.

meaning i've had to gradually learn about what *should* be growing here and doing my little bits to put things back and help that along. an easy starting point was one of the groundcovers native to this area, dichondra! I sowed a few packets of seed in the patches where the lawn was thinner and it's loving life.

looking into the harder to get groundcovers soon, but planning native violets (among others) in some of the spots currently covered in bark chip.

as a bonus, I see the mycelium is doing its business in there!

#id in alt text #that post made me remember the dichondra i planted! #my brother thinks the mushies are something like agrocybe or some other kind i forget the name of #im pretty sure the thing they used to kill the bees was roundup so we don't grow veggies in the soil here... #we had bees flying into the house and dying on the floor for monthssss #they weren't native bees but i'm sure it hurt them too #me #my plants #ramble #plants

[asgardian--angels]

keeping honeybee hives as a way to ‘save the bees’ is the equivalent of claiming factory farmed chickens are somehow stopping greater prairie chickens from going extinct lmao

#wanna know one of the worst takes I've seen by beekeepers lobbying the government? #putting honeybee hives in national parks #to help bee populations #anyway no offense to beekeepers out there who do what they do as a small business etc etc #but the beekeeping industry actively works to shift focus away from wild pollinator conservation onto honeybees #they have a lot of weight and money to throw around and they use it to influence federal and state policy #the relationship between native pollinator biologists and beekeepers is like that of wildlife biologists and hunters #we should be working together to address common issues that affect all these species. and occasionally we do. some of us are both #but way more frequently than necessary we have to walk on eggshells around you because if we upset you you'll rain hell upon us #i speak from experience as both a pollinator ecologist and a wildlife biologist and lemme tell you it's a drag #as long as you have government subsidy on your side you're invincible #remember kids we only rely on honeybees for so much pollination because we destroyed the habitat of native pollinators on farmland #despite this native pollinators account for a not insignificant portion of pollination but it's not widely publicized #it's estimated that if we provide native habitat free from pesticides then we can reduce reliance on honeybees significantly #enough that for some crops we wouldn't need them at all #galaxy brained athena take here: the next big thing will be 'wild pollinator certified' foods