Well, Hot Damselfly!

It's been a few weeks that I've wanted to write about the mysteries of dragonflies and damselflies, but I've held off for the "right moment", whatever that means.

Well, right at the end of pollinator week, this seemed to be it. Dancing around our namesake pond, fairylike wings glittering in the late morning sunlight, dragons and damsels can be found hunting with both an urgency and a playfulness unlike most other insects. Although not intentional pollinators, dragons and damsels occasionally transfer pollen from plant to plant by way of their natural movement: flitting serendipitously from leaf to leaf on the prowl for a meal.

Botanical Backbones: The Plants that Bind

Somehow, we've made it to the last week of spring, even though it's felt like true summer for a while now.   Fruit has begun to appear on shrubs and trees. Things have fully leafed out, unless they bit the dust during the bout of random mid-spring freezes. Some things seem to be absolutely thriving this season, despite the snow, drought, high winds, or random heat waves followed by random overnight freezes. These are the plants that seem to continue carving a niche out for themselves as the weathered warriors of the Anthropocenic Hellscape we inhabit.

The Many Creatures & Cures of Sevenbark

It was no contest who was getting the spotlight this week. Our smooth hydrangeas are in full bloom, from the production houses to the nursery gardens. More enticing than the pleasantly fragrant flower clusters, though, is the parade of critters found bumbling about the individual inflorescences. In no longer than ten minutes, I managed to spot various native bumble bee species, honeybees, ichneumon and brachonid wasps, hover flies, mimic flies, sweat bees, both pink-spotted and Asian lady beetles, and even an American Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) which effortlessly alluded my attempt at photographing it.

Plants in the Pipeline: PART II

After my complete and utter failure with Polygonatum commutatum last week, which my brain confidently insisted was actually Podophyllum peltatum, I'm coming into this week's newsletter humbly begging for your forgiveness and offering a forecast of upcoming plants to look forward to down the road (aka summertime) as penance for my wrongdoings.
Anyway, while most of these plants won't be ready until August and September, we're still pretty excited about them and wanted to get you in the spirit for fall planning & planting.
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