I Heart Macro: Busy

Bee on red Papaver (?) variety, Magdalena, NM, June 2011

Small wasp on Gaillardia bud

If you plant it, they will come.... My gardens are full of life these days, both flora and fauna. I've seen several different kinds of bees, which bodes well for the veggie garden, along with black swallowtail caterpillars (who love fennel), various butterflies, ladybugs, some kind of winged aphid-eater, and even a dragonfly hovering around my fountain. Just about all of my perennials survived the winter thanks to a thick bed of straw, monthly deep watering, and an early spring dose of Yum-Yum Mix (an organic fertilizer); many of them also dropped seeds that are now sprouting, which will make the perennial beds that much more lush. Since everything is on the drip system, they get just the water they need, and I've noticed the birds and bugs also enjoying a drink while it's on.  I think I've gotten a pretty cool little ecosystem going here, kind of an oasis given how dry this year has been.



Moth on Salvia nemorosa "May Night"

So that's today's I Heart Macro post; I couldn't play along last week because the endless winds (which should have been gone weeks ago) made any photography impossible, particularly macro. Yesterday and today have been much calmer, thank goodness; constant wind makes me edgy....

Fuzzy-legged honeybee (Melissodes) on Gaillardia