pollinators | The Prairie Ecologist

This might be an awkward week to laud the value of having a non-native wildflower in my yard. I’m an invited speaker at the Indiana Native Plant Society’s annual conference this coming weekend. It’s probably (?) too late for them to cancel my appearance.

I’m mostly kidding. Today’s post is not intended to diminish the importance of native plants, either in ecological restoration or in suburban landscapes. I’m (obviously, I hope) a huge advocate for including native plants in those situations for many reasons. I’ve written about that before (here) and don’t need to cover that ground again here. However, in that same post, I also explained why Kim and I have a mix of native and non-native (and even some cultivars of native plants) in our yard. If that makes you feel agitated, I beg you to read both that post and this one before you start stomping your feet and plotting my destruction.

Monarch butterfly on a zinnia flower this week.

We moved across town last winter, abandoning garden spaces Kim and I (mostly Kim) had invested 10 years in. Our new place is mostly Kentucky bluegrass with some minimal and mostly not-our-style flower gardens along the edge of the house. While we’re both antsy to start making it ours, Kim very rationally decided that we need to wait a year before jumping into a new landscape plan. That’ll give us (her) time to scope out the sunny and shady spots, learn about what’s already here, and think about what we really want this new yard to look like.

As a result, we (she) planted a small vegetable garden in the same footprint used by the previous owner, but otherwise – with one exception – left the rest of the yard as is. That exception was that she planted a bunch of zinnias around our back deck and in a stretch of space on the west side of the house. I’m grateful for a couple reasons. First, zinnias are beautiful and I like looking at them. Second, and (finally) getting to the point of this post, they attract and feed a lot of insects, including lots of migrants. In particular, this week, they fed a couple butterflies that weren’t really supposed to be here, but showed up anyway.

Our dog, Fitz, posing with some of our zinnias.

We’ve been enjoying a bounty of pollinators and other insects on our zinnias all season. During the last few weeks, though, the activity has been even more appreciated because most of the native plants in nearby prairies and other natural areas have pretty much shut down for the season. There’s very little available pollen and nectar out there right now. In our yard, though, the zinnias are still cruising along.

While most monarchs have scooted south, the few that are still hanging around and/or passing through have really concentrated their activity on our zinnias. They’re joined by migratory painted lady and American lady butterflies, as well as other butterflies, moths, bees, flies, etc. – some migratory, some not.

Last weekend, I spotted a butterfly on our zinnias that I’d seen in books, but never in real life – a gulf fritillary. I took a couple quick photos with my phone and checked the terrific Nebraska Lepidoptera website to see what I could learn.

According to the website, the species hadn’t yet been reported in our county and it was also outside the seasonal window when it had been reported in the state. That’s pretty cool. I emailed Neil Dankert, who runs the site, to let him know what I’d seen. Apparently, a few other people in the state were reporting the butterflies in their yards, too, along with a few other species that are normally found to our south. We’d had some strong southerly winds (blowing out of the south) a day or two before I saw the gulf fritillary, so maybe a bunch of butterflies just got blown north by that weather system.

The next morning, I took my camera out behind the house and took the photos shown in this post. I saw at least two different gulf fritillaries, which I know only because one of them had a wing that was a little beat up. Well, I also saw two at once, which was another good clue, I guess. There could easily have been more than two, though – there was so much activity on the flowers, it was hard to keep track. Here are photos of some of the other insect visitors on the zinnias that morning.

I’m excited to start putting in a bunch of native plants next spring, and building those gardens out over the next several years. We’ll be sure to include wildflowers that bloom at different times of year so that we can provide nectaring options consistently through the growing season for both resident and migratory pollinators. It’ll also be fun to watch myriad insects feed on the leaves, burrow into the stems, and otherwise utilize the plant species they are familiar with and adapted to.

At the same time, though, I’m sure we’ll add species like crocus, daffodil, tulip, hyacinth, and others, just because we think they’re pretty. Zinnias, too, will continue to be a staple of our backyard color. We’ll plant a cherry tree for pies and maybe some raspberries and strawberries for eating and canning. In addition, we’ll leave one fairly big swath of mowed bluegrass so we can play frisbee with the dogs and so there’s a place for kids to play soccer or whatever they want. In short, we’ll create a yard that fits us.

Gulf fritillary and monarch butterfly sharing the same flower (momentarily).

I fully support people who want to turn their whole yard into native prairie plantings, or to landscape with only native plants. If that makes them happy, it makes me happy. I’m a little bothered, though, by the more militant among them who try to shame anyone who doesn’t want to go whole hog with them.

There are lots of ways to contribute to the world with your yard. You can be conservative in your water use, for example, both by planting species that require minimal watering and by not watering more than needed. Leaving piles of sticks and leaves around, as well as patches of bare ground, provide helpful habitat for many species. You can also be judicious about spraying chemicals for weed or “pest” control. The overuse of herbicides and pesticides is a huge problem and has big ripple effects outside of someone’s yard.

And, of course, incorporating native plants in your landscaping has innumerable benefits, both directly to insects and other wildlife and indirectly as a way of normalizing those plant species to neighbors and passers-by. Please add native species to your yard if you can!

However, don’t feel bad about throwing in a few daffodils, petunias, or zinnias as well. I sure don’t, and neither – apparently – do the butterflies.

As I said back in early May, I’m spending a lot of my photography time in three 80×80-foot plots this summer. Each plot in part of a prairie that was grazed intensively most or all of last year. I’m hoping to highlight why I enjoy exploring places where the growth of normally-dominant plants (especially grasses) is temporarily suppressed from last year’s grazing.

Space and opportunities are opened for other plant species to flourish for a year or so until those dominant species hit full strength again. Generally, I see all the perennial plants I’m used to seeing, but they’re joined (temporarily) by a flush of short-lived plants as well.

In addition, the habitat structure is unique and interesting – especially as the season progresses. It often resembles a kind of miniature savanna, with wildflowers instead of trees towering over short grasses. It’s a habitat type preferred by many invertebrate and vertebrate wildlife species.

Pussytoes (*Antennaria neglecta*) went to seed in mid May at our family prairie. This is a long-lived rhizomatous plant that definitely enjoys the short habitat structure created by grazing.

Today’s post features the 80×80 plot at my family prairie, where I’m experimenting with the open gate rotational grazing. This is basically a big photo dump from about the last month or so. To make up for the large number of photos, I’ve kept the text to a minimum, but have hopefully included enough to give you some context. There’s a lot happening, and every visit I’ve made has resulted in some terrific photos.

Early in the season, the vegetation was pretty uniformly short. Pussytoes, only 6 to 8 inches tall, towered over the surrounding landscape. By mid-June, though, things have changed, with opportunistic wildflowers like yarrow and daisy fleabane growing more than two feet tall and providing an interesting mix of tall and short vegetation structure. That means animals have lots of choices between open, sunny areas and cool, shady cover.

Yarrow (with fleabane in the background) growing tall, surrounded by short grasses.

Mid-June in the part of our family prairie that was grazed intensively all last season. The orange flags mark the corners of my 80×80 foot plot.

The 80×80 foot plot at our family prairie is located on a slope I believe to be remnant (never plowed) prairie. There have been a lot of wildflower species blooming, and a lot more are getting ready. Many are native, but a few aren’t – though none are invasive or problematic.

Shell-leaf penstemon (*Penstemon grandiflorus*) is a species I’ve seeded into the prairie in recent years (from seed harvested nearby).

False gromwell, aka marbleseed (*Onosmodium molle*).

The flowers of false gromwell are closed at the tip, restricting pollinators to those strong enough to force their way inside and/or those with long tongues.

A lot of daisy fleabane (*Erigeron strigosus*) germinated last year during the grazing and is blooming happily this year before dying at the end of this season.

I’ve paid attention to how much fruit has been produced by ground plum in places that were grazed and ungrazed last year. The grazed areas, including my plot, have way more fruits on the plants than I see in the ungrazed sites. I wonder if that’s because they bloomed more prolifically, were pollinated more, or something else (or, likely, a combination of factors). Either way, it’s a stark difference.

Ground plum, aka buffalo pea (*Astragalus crassicarpus*) fruits.

Silver-leaf scurfpea (*Pediomelum argophyllum*) is a long-lived perennial that seems unaffected by grazing.

Peppergrass (*Lepidium densiflorum*) is a neat little annual that is doing well with the abundant light and low grass competition.

Goatsbeard, aka salsify (*Tragopogon dubius*) is a non-native wildflower I enjoy. It’s short-lived and profits from less competitive grasses.

The non-native legume black medic (*Medicago lupulina*) is one of the big winners in all three of my 80×80 foot plots this year. Next year, it will be drastically less abundant as grasses recover their vigor.

The invasive smooth brome (*Bromus inermis*) is found in pretty much every Nebraska prairie these days, but while it bloomed in my 80×80 plot, its minimal vegetative production showed how little competition it was able to provide in the community this spring.

The abundance of invertebrates is one of my favorite aspects of these post-grazing areas. They seem to be drawn to the combination of sun and shade in close proximity, which allows them to easily thermoregulate. A bonanza of wildflowers also draws a lot of pollinators, and that’ll become even more apparent over the next month or two as prairie clover (a particular favorite of bees) starts blooming.

I’ve photographed three ladybird beetles (ladybugs) in the plot so far this year, including the non-native seven-spotted ladybird and two native species.

Seven-spotted ladybird beetle (non-native)

Convergent ladybird beetle (native) on daisy fleabane, with an aphid, its favorite prey, shown at the top of the photo.

Tiny beetle on stiff goldenrod (*Oligoneuron rigida*).

There have been lots of wolf spiders running around on the bare soil.

There’s lots of patchy bare ground in the post-grazing portion of our prairie this year. That makes for great habitat for many invertebrates. It should also be great for ground-nesting bees. The other day, I saw what I thought was probably the entrance to a small bee’s nest and hung around to see if I could get a photo of the bee coming or going. I did manage to spot and photograph the resident, but it turned out not to be a bee. Instead, it was the larva of a tiger beetle – a group of species whose larva and adult stages both enjoy hunting in areas of bare ground.

Tiger beetle larva ready to hunt. If you click on the photo to get a bigger/clearer version you can get a much better view of its face.

I mentioned daisy fleabane earlier. It’s definitely one of the plant species that has benefitted greatly from last year’s grazing. While many people consider it “weedy” because it’s a biennial, it’s attractive and I’ve enjoyed watching all the diversity and activity taking place on it this spring.

A bug (showing its long mouthpart) hiding behind a flower.

A tiny bug (*Lygus lineolaris*?) feeding on daisy fleabane.

A fly infected by the Entomopthora muscae fungus. Read more here: https://prairieecologist.com/2024/06/25/early-summer-natural-history-stories/

I’ll finish with a barrage of crab spider photos from this site. It’s been a great year for crab spiders at many of the prairies I’ve visited, but they seem particularly abundant here. They’re hanging around on lots of different flowers, hunting the many invertebrates coming to visit those blossoms.