Much of the attention given to insect pollinators focuses on bees and butterflies with a passing interest given to moths and perhaps wasps. Flies and beetles are sometimes depicted when a photo to promote bee conservation is mistakenly a syrphid, bee fly or, on the rare occasion, a flower longhorn beetle. The diverse array of...Read More
The Ephemeral Spring Wildflowers After a long winter, spring wildflower ephemerals herald a new growing season. The first blooms magically transform the woodland landscape. These early plants emerge in deciduous forests before the overhead trees fully leaf out.Read More
You know this is lichen. You’ve seen it everywhere your entire life. That’s because there are over 14,000 species of lichen in the world. Yet, what do you know about lichen? Here’s a secret: it’s one of the most fascinating organisms on Earth. And you’ve barely noticed it.Read More
Throughout the millennia, the astounding beauty of the butterfly has inspired the imagination, the arts, literature, and poetry. Attracting these magnificent creatures into our own yards requires three basic ingredients: larval host plants, nectar plants, and sheltering habitat.Read More
Let’s suppose you’re shopping for hot sauce. You probably have a favorite brand. You may be very firm about it. Let’s say you’d definitely buy Tabasco, but you’d rarely buy any other brand.Read More
Butterflies are likely the most beloved and recognizable group of insects because of their striking wing coloring and patterning. Butterflies are a subset of moths in the order Lepidoptera. Because our North American butterflies are active during the day, and no species is a pest to the average person, they get more respect than their...Read More
I live in a lovely but turf-dominant Twin Cities suburb in Minnesota. After earning my certification as a Minnesota Master Naturalist and studying the work of noted ecologist Douglas Tallamy, I began to understand the critical importance of transitioning my corner of the world to a more natural habitat, primarily for the sake of native...Read More
