Beaumont-Wilshire: The Real Dirt
A queen wasp is building her nest under our eaves. With the help of my camera I can see the interior cells and the eggs she has laid there. This morning she has added a second wall around the first inner wall of the nest, which has grown significantly since I started writing this article. Along with the honeybees spotted on my crocuses in January, she is part of the interacting ecosystem of our garden. The Anna’s hummingbird family living nearby is eating the nectar of our native currant (Ribes sanguineum) and catching very small insects to feed to their babies. The nectar of our Camellia sasanqua “Yuletide” was food for the adult hummingbirds in November and December.
Bumblebees sometimes sleep in our dahlia flowers in summer. Crab spiders awaiting their prey change color to blend in with flowers. Brown garden spiders hatch by the tiny thousands in spring and grow to just a few large guys by autumn. Resident crows harvest small branches of our dogwood tree for their nests—although I wish they wouldn’t—but thankfully leave enough for us and the health of our tree.
Planting food for insects and birds is always part of my garden planning. The bees are swimming in the pollen-laden anthers of my peony. The Rudbeckia triloba (Black Eyed Susan) that seeds gently in my garden is food for the pollinator insects in spring and summer, and the seeds feed the Lesser Goldfinches in autumn.
Many plants are sources of sustenance for our garden ecosystem: sunflowers, roses, bulbs, annuals and perennials, native and non-native: a good mixture. The pollinator bees, wasps and syrphid flies that look like bees love the flowers of raspberries, blueberries, and tomatoes. We use many different plants in in our small garden to maintain a healthy balance of insect pollinators and predators. These plant varieties are food sources for us…and for the creatures we live with.
Garden nerds like me pollinate with cotton swabs in hopes of producing seed of desirable plants. Gardening friends have asked me to sniff another flower because I have pollen on my nose. We gardeners are part of a complex, natural ecosystem that includes the plants we nurture and the insect and animal gardeners that share city space with us. Gardens and green spaces support the health of our city, our world, and us.
Useful online resources:
http://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=Oregon
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/gardenshare/documents/Attracting_Beneficials.pdf