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| Native Aster with Garden Yarrow- Warm Summer Days in the Garden |
I started to write about some of the creatures that keep me company when I am out working in the yard and garden, but ended up on a long tangent about biodiversity-- that is a subject to be continued another day!
This was meant to be a much more text-light post, just celebrating all the varied creatures large and small who are going about their business in spite of or because of my efforts-- birds eating wild berries, bees feeding on garden flowers, wasps taking advantage of water I've left out etc.
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| Wasp drinking water I left out in the garden during a warm dry spell. |
The relationships become more complex as you look more closel. More flowers of more kinds (in the actual gardens and in wild areas I've left and/or encouraged) over a longer season draw more kinds of insects, pollinators, those who feed directly on the plants, and of course predatory and scavenger insects (which are also often pollinators, and having plants they like helps keep them around to do their predatory work). More insects feed more birds, which also help keep insect populations in balance, and their droppings often contain berry seeds which germinate around the yard and in gardens, increasing the plant diversity. Frogs and toads find many niches they like in the gardens, and they surely have a big impact on insect and slug populations. Fortunately the various rodent species from voles through hares have not shown huge interest in the gardens -- the most troublesome would be the voles, over winter, but hares have only occasionally nibbled garden plants and squirrels have done no more than perch on rocks or stumps in the garden to eat spruce cones. I suspect part of the key here is that there are enough areas of wild vegetation to keep the wildlife well fed--if I lived in an immaculate wasteland, the animals would have nothing to eat but garden plants!
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| Wood Frog/Rana Sylvatica in the Garden |
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| Cedar Waxwing ( I think, can't see the underneath) on Saskatoon bushes. Very present in the yard throughout berry season, they eat most berries as soon as they ripen! |
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| Cedar Waxwing ( I think, can't see the underneath) on Saskatoon bushes. Very present in the yard throughout berry season, they eat most berries as soon as they ripen! |
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| Cedar Waxwing ( I think, can't see the underneath)-- retreating to the poplars when I get too close. |
Beyond all those ecological considerations, it is simply a joy to see all these companions whenever I am working outside-- or even looking or listening through the windows!
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| Grasshopper on planter. Lots of these around in summer, but I never notice any damage. |
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| Crab Spider on Primula vialii |
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