A Week of Flowers 2025 – A Posse of Pollinators

Chris Mousseau

It’s day seven – the final day – of Cathy’s annual A Week of Flowers on-line celebration of blossoms that made us happy this past growing season. I’m going to end the week with the bees and butterflies that brought me joy in my garden. These shots were all downloaded from my phone (almost all my blog shots are taken with a very old Pentax K100) and I don’t think these specific shots have been seen on this page before.

There’s a half dozen or more butterfly species that make a habit of visiting, but I can only reliably and immediately identify two – swallowtails and monarchs. There are several swallowtail species native here, including the one at the top of this post, feasting on a Zinnia, and the one below, fluttering around a blue vervain – Verbena hastata. The monarch, below, was quite comfortable in the Zinnia patch!

Here’s two honeybees, the one on the left sampling the New England Asters, and on the right, sky high in the tendrils of an Ironweed – possibly Vernonia gigantea:

Two more flowers, two new bees – a pollen laden bee carefully navigating the sharp bracts of a white coneflower – Echinacea Purpurea ssp, and as a three-fer, a trio of bees on this tall ruddy leaved sedum – Hylotelephium spectabile:

Wait! I just spotted two more honey bees here – five bees in total!

Finally, I really need to have a Tithonia – Mexican sunflower – in the mix because it’s reliably one of the top pollinator magnets in my garden, despite it (and two other flowers here) not being native to Ontario. This is a great shot of the flower, and a poor shot of the carpenter bee in the centre – I may have zoomed in a titch too much – Sorry!

Cathy – Thank You so much for organizing this week’s festivities – the memories have been great and timely, given the cold snowy condition we’re experiencing, and it’s been really lovely seeing again such colour from around the world.

14 Comments

  1. That is a magnificent end to the week Chris! I have so enjoyed seeing your flowers and pollinators. I always get inspiration from your garden and am now off to look for a Vernonia…. Thanks! 😁🌼☀️🌺

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  3. There still are a few bees and butterflies in my neighborhood, but this glorious assemblage is a reminder of what will return in a few months. I really like the ironweeds. I think we have three native species, and they’re always covered in bees and flies; they must contain a lot of ‘goodies’ in relation to their size.

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