To celebrate, The Joslin Garden is creating a new pollinator bed, situated next to the veggie garden!
Since I’ve only been working the Garden since the first of the year, and then only one day a week, I’m not sure what will come up and where. I started weeding a garden bed near the veggie garden, and Nell said, “Everything can go except the daylilies, Hemerocallis spp. I didn’t even see any daylilies, there were so many weeds obstructing the view.
HELEN
Location of The Joslin Garden’s new pollinator garden .
This hot mess was made up of two primary weeds, Senna spp. and a wild inch plant, also known as the wandering Jew plant. I prefer inch plant but added the second common name for identification purposes since wondering Jew is a more commonly known common name. In either case, it’s in the genus, Tradescantia spp., and it was so thick, I was able to pull out as handfuls at a time, and I have man-size hands. I wear a large man’s glove! Same with Senna; it reseeds everywhere. I have to control it in my own garden as well.
Pollinator garden after weeding!
Stay tuned for the additions we add.
ART
Art continued with limbing up low-hanging branches. I did a little, but Art did a lot!
NELL
Let’s hear to for Nell!!! God bless her, she is still hunting down 4 O’Clocks, Mirabilis multiflora. They have invaded the garden. Nell will get them though, given she is so focused, she will eradicate this invasive. It may take a year, but as we improve the garden with more natives, and loosing invasive, we shall meet our goal.
Nell worn out from her battle with 4 O'Clocks.
INSECTS FOUND TODAY
Yes, I am a bug nut. I didn’t get pics of all that we found, but we do have two nice insect examples of what we found in the garden today.
Red Paper Wasp, Polistes Carolina, rolling a pollen ball.
Two-lined spittle bug, Prosapia bicincta,
I was hesitant to add this, but when I was weeding the new pollinator garden, I interrupted an adult-size copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix. Did you know black snakes, Pantherophis obsoletus, eat copperheads? You do now! We have a resident black snake, but it looks like he/she is not doing their job!
Until soon,
Helen Yoest
Evviromental Scientist, M.S.