The heath aster / frost aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) has been blooming on the trail this week, and I've been thinking about getting seeds from it for the native yard.
...but it turns out it was already here, hiding in the back yard!
(Trail first, then yard pics for the rest.)
The grama grasses are both going out of their way to look pretty for the autumn. The side oats grama looks pretty and orange on the left, while the blue grama has a spruce mustache of seeds this time of year.
One dwarf rabbitbrush plant has cotton balls with twigs sticking out of them on it, maybe a dozen. Turns out, these're the galls that hold the larvae of Aciurina bigeloviae, a type of fly. I've seen the flies with their green eyes and spotted wings but didn't photograph them yet.
Is that a bee? A fly? Whatever it is, it sure seems to like slurping up the dwarf rabbitbrush.
(Does anyone recognize it, by chance? Denver area of Colorado.)
Dotted Blazingstar (Liatris punctata), a new native plant, just showed up after the rains =) It's a favorite of the Pawnee montane skipper (Hesperia leonardus) and apparently helps fix the soil around old mining sites. That area here has poor soil, so makes sense.
A metallic green bee friend hanging out on one of the Rocky Mountain bee plants in the yard.
So shiny!
The prairie primrose is finally thinking of blooming =) Last year was really their year. This year, it's just a few small ones.
Does anyone know if these are white penstemons (Penstemon albidus) or slender beardtongues (Penstemon gracilis)?
There was a kinda barrens along the trail, and this year, it was full of oxeneyes, Rocky Mountain bee plants, and whatever penstemons these are. I'm curious if they're native or not. I kinda think someone just seeded the whole area with native plants. Birds seem VERY happy about this change.
When I pick weeds near the saltbrush and rabbitbrush, a juvenile red-tailed hawk has started landing on the roof above me to see if I startle out any rabbits or nesting birds. Work smarter, not harder, I guess!
Vale Nagle 🏳️⚧️