Solidago missouriensis Archives - Wild With Nature

How to grow a bird-friendly garden in western Montana

Shane Sater — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 18:30:15 +0000

A juvenile cedar waxwing eating a chokecherry.

When you compare the birds of a manicured lawn with those that inhabit a grove of chokecherries, the difference is stark. The lawn might support a few starlings and robins. Perhaps, late in spring migration, a handful of desperate Swainson’s thrushes might stop by. The chokecherries, on the other hand, support an intricate community of life, from two-tailed swallowtail butterflies to dozens of species of songbirds. When the fruits ripen in late summer to a deep, juicy black, they attract cedar waxwings, Townsend’s solitaires, western tanagers, American robins, and house finches. Meanwhile, throughout the growing season, the foliage supports a diversity of insects – and the birds that eat them. Flitting among the leaves, you can find Wilson’s warblers, ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers, and warbling vireos.

A migrating Wilson’s warbler in a chokecherry.

When we consider the diversity of life around us, it’s easy to see a lot of bad news these days. We’ve lost 2.9 billion breeding birds in North America over the last 50 years. Scientists have reported steep declines of once-common insects. But by making a few simple decisions about what we plant in our gardens, we can be part of reversing these trends. In our yards, parks, and neighborhoods, we can provide homes for the birds, bees, and caterpillars. But doing this isn’t just about avoiding extinctions – it’s also a lot of fun.

This article is focused on plants for bird-friendly gardens in the western half of Montana, USA. If you live elsewhere, the specific plants will be different, but the general recommendations will be the same.

Getting started: habitat for birds

An American robin taking a bath.

Every species of bird is unique in its life story. The habitats it uses, the foods it eats, where it nests, whether it migrates – all of this varies. Nevertheless, all birds need food, shelter, water, and safety from predators. Plants provide excellent food and shelter – especially particular species of plants that are native to the local landscape. But before we get into the specifics of these plants, let’s consider water and predators.

Some birds, such as American kestrels, can get most or all of the moisture they need from their food. Otherwise, birds need to drink water. Including a source of water in your garden, such as a regularly cleaned bird bath or a backyard wetland, can attract birds to drink or bathe.

Watch out for predators

An “Acopian bird saver” bird-friendly window in Ruth Swenson’s Helena, MT garden.

What about predators in our yards? Outdoor cats are incredibly deadly for neighborhood songbirds. In the United States alone, cats kill well over a billion birds a year. This number is so large that it’s almost unimaginable. But there are a lot of outdoor cats in the United States: around 50 million pets, in addition to as many as 100 million feral cats. Managing outdoor cats, especially feral ones, can be a contentious topic. But keeping your own cats indoors is a relatively easy step to take. By doing so, you’ll help ensure that your bird-friendly garden doesn’t become a death trap for songbirds.

Windows may not be predators, but they’re another deadly neighborhood hazard for songbirds. In the United States, they’re estimated to kill over 350 million birds a year. An article by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology gives an overview of this issue and discusses several solutions. Of these, Acopian Bird Savers are probably one of the most elegant. This is an unobtrusive, low-tech design that consists of vertical rows of cords, spaced four inches apart, that hang from the outside of the window. You can make your own out of parachute cord or bamboo, or you can order them online.

Including different habitat features

Clark’s nutcrackers are common birds in and around conifer forest, but are generally rare away from this habitat.

Broadly speaking, all birds are associated with one or more of three general habitats: forest, prairie, or wetland. What habitats make up the larger landscape surrounding you? The answer to this question will shape the possibilities for your bird-friendly garden.

Is your home in the middle of a Douglas-fir forest, or is it in a valley-bottom subdivision? Clark’s nutcrackers probably won’t visit your garden unless you have patches of conifers close to you. Similarly, you probably won’t attract marsh wrens or Wilson’s snipes to your yard unless you live very close to a wetland. Meanwhile, many prairie birds need relatively large patches of grasses and herbs. So unless this describes the area around your house, you probably won’t have grasshopper sparrows or western meadowlarks in your yard. Many birds of thickets and forest edges, on the other hand, will readily use yards during migration or the breeding season. And, of course, there are a variety of birds that use more than one of these habitats.

In general, in order to make your yard more inviting for birds, it’s worth considering components of all three habitats: forest, prairie, and wetland. A small water feature probably won’t attract Wilson’s snipes – but, once again, a bit of water in the yard will allow birds to drink and bathe. A prairie patch the size of a front yard is unlikely to bring in grasshopper sparrows, but it will offer important seeds and insects for thicket-edge birds such as chipping sparrows. And patches of native shrubs or trees, such as chokecherries, provide food and cover for a wide diversity of migrating and nesting songbirds.

Why native plants?

A bohemian waxwing feeding on the fruits of Russian-olive, an invasive tree.

You’ve probably noticed that I keep mentioning native plants for birds. Why does this matter? you might be wondering. Perhaps you’ve noticed that robins and Bohemian waxwings often eat the fruits of Russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), a frequently-planted invasive that escapes from cultivation to compete with the cottonwoods and willows along our waterways. Or you might have noticed a house finch or pileated woodpecker pecking at an apple, another non-native fruit.

A western bluebird feeding on an adult moth. Insects – especially the larvae of butterflies and moths – are critical foods for most of our songbirds.

Yes, there are non-native plants that certain birds will use. But, all things considered, native plants are far superior for our birds. Why? It comes down to food – and, specifically, insects. Doug Tallamy, a researcher who has spent decades studying birds and insects, writes that 96% of North American land birds rely heavily on insects during the breeding season. Soft, juicy caterpillars are especially important. And whereas native plants have coevolved with native insects, non-native plants are comparative deserts for insect diversity.

A non-native plant like Russian-olive may still provide fruits that feed a few species. But in comparison with a chokecherry or another native plant, it’s much less useful for most of our birds. If you want to attract an abundance of birds to your yard, then native plants are the way to go.

Okay, which plants should I plant for the birds? you’re probably asking. Here are some recommendations for western Montana, organized by the foods they provide.

Native plants for insects

What sorts of native plants provide our birds with the most insects? In order to give region-specific recommendations, Doug Tallamy and Kimberley Shropshire teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation to create an interactive website, searchable by zip code. For each zip code, this tool predicts the number of caterpillar species that different native plants will support. And in North America, it turns out, wherever you are, just a handful of native plants support most of the caterpillars.

A western tanager in a native diamond willow (Salix eriocephala).

A yellow warbler singing from a chokecherry.

Around Helena, Montana, willows are at the top of the list. These shrubs host up to 309 species of caterpillars – juicy protein packets to feed our nesting birds. Many of our native willows grow in wetlands, but Scouler’s willow (Salix scouleriana) and sandbar willow (Salix exigua) are common species that often grow in somewhat drier areas.

Cottonwoods and aspens are also high on the list, hosting up to 245 butterflies and moths. Among the cottonwoods are black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera) and plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides) – but keep in mind that these trees are notorious for dropping branches. Meanwhile, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) forms thickets from underground rhizomes. For these reasons, cottonwoods and aspens are best-suited for larger yards.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) and American plum (Prunus americana) are thicket-forming shrubs that are excellent for bird habitat. (They support up to 227 species of caterpillars – and check out this article for an exploration of other miniature insects that live on chokecherries.) However, if you live in an area with a high risk of bear conflicts, keep in mind that chokecherries and plums can attract bears when the fruits get ripe in the fall.

Birches, alders, and pines

A common yellowthroat in a thinleaf alder.

Our native birches host 211 species of caterpillars. Water birch (Betula occidentalis) is a small tree that often grows along streams; paper birch (Betula papyrifera) gets much larger. And birches do more than just provide lots of insects. Their trunks (like those of cottonwoods and aspens) also make popular homes for cavity-nesting birds like black-capped chickadees and house wrens. (If you don’t want to wait for your trees to grow, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology also provides thorough instructions for nest box construction.) The related thinleaf alder (Alnus incana) is a large shrub or small tree that hosts 196 species of butterflies and moths.

Red crossbills feeding on ponderosa pine cones.

Among the conifers, pines (Pinus spp.) are important for caterpillars, supporting up to 188 species. Around Helena, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) are good options. However, keep in mind that they grow to be rather large trees. Also, depending on your surroundings, you might not want to plant them near your house due to fire risk.

Goldenrods, strawberries, and more

A noctuid moth (Euxoa sp.) visiting giant goldenrod flowers.

What about herbaceous plants? For caterpillars, goldenrod is at the top of the list, hosting 65 species. Common goldenrods in Montana include giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea), Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), and Missouri goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis). These plants are commonly blamed for late-summer allergies, but this is a myth: the culprits are typically ragweeds (Ambrosia spp.), which bloom around the same time.

Many plants that provide insects also provide fruits or seeds. This common redpoll is foraging on a seedhead of big sagebrush, presumably eating the seeds.

Other herbs that support substantial numbers of butterflies and moths are native strawberries and sunflowers. Wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana and Fragaria vesca) are low-growing; they may not compete well with taller, more vigorous plants. Sunflowers, on the other hand, are both tall and vigorous. In Montana, common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an abundant annual that often grows along roadsides. We also have two common perennial species, Nuttall’s sunflower (Helianthus nuttallii) and Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani).

Lupines and sagebrushes are also worthy of mention, supporting up to 40 and 35 species of caterpillars, respectively. Silvery lupine (Lupinus argenteus) and silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus) are a couple of Montana’s common lupines. Sagebrushes are very diverse in Montana and include shrubs such as big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and silver sagebrush (Artemisia cana) as well as herbs such as fringed sage (Artemisia frigida) and white sagebrush (Artemisia ludoviciana).

Native plants for fruits

A white-crowned sparrow eating red-osier dogwood fruits.

I’ve already mentioned chokecherry for the diversity of insects that it hosts. In addition to the insects, this shrub is also a phenomenal fall fruit resource for cedar waxwings, American robins, and many other birds. And besides chokecherry, there’s a wide selection of other native fruits that attract birds, from July onwards through the winter. Many of these plants also host a notable diversity of caterpillars (though they support fewer species of caterpillars than the shrubs and trees I’ve already mentioned).

A cedar waxwing feeding on golden currant fruits.

Red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) offers clusters of small white fruits from mid-summer through fall. Gray catbirds and white-crowned sparrows are among the birds that feed on them. This medium-sized shrub also has brilliant red fall foliage.

The native currants – such as golden currant (Ribes aureum) and bristly gooseberry (Ribes setosum) – are some of the earliest fruits to ripen in the summer. They provide a tasty snack for birds and people alike. Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) is another popular summer fruit for cedar waxwings, western tanagers, and thrushes.

Elderberry, snowberry, and more

Silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea).

Blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) ripens in the fall, as does western mountain-ash (Sorbus scopulina). The snowberries – common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) and western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) – also ripen in the fall, but their fruits stick around through the winter. So do the wild roses, such as Woods’ rose (Rosa woodsii) and Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana). Silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) is a great fall fruit that sometimes remains through mid-winter. Note that this is a large, thorny bush, though, and separate male and female plants are needed for pollination.

A Townsend’s solitaire feeding on Rocky Mountain juniper fruits.

Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) is a tall shrub that provides winter “berries” (actually fleshy cones) for Bohemian waxwings, Townsend’s solitaires, and American robins. Keep in mind that juniper, like silver buffaloberry, has separate male and female plants, so you’ll need both in your general area for pollination to occur. Juniper is also highly flammable – so it’s probably not a good idea to plant it in areas with high fire risk. Montana also has two lower-growing juniper species that provide options for smaller spaces: horizontal juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) and common juniper (Juniperus communis).

Native plants for seeds

An American goldfinch feeding on late-fall seeds of common sunflower.

Many birds – such as American goldfinches, American tree sparrows, and pine siskins – commonly feed on seeds. In the case of sparrows, it’s often hard to see exactly what they’re eating, since they feed on the ground. Nevertheless, a few seed-bearing plants are especially noteworthy for the birds they attract. Montana’s native sunflowers – the annual common sunflower and the perennial Nuttall’s and Maximilian sunflowers – reliably attract goldfinches and pine siskins when their seeds ripen in the fall. Our pines, such as ponderosa and limber pine, feed nomadic groups of conifer-seed specialists such as red crossbills and Clark’s nutcrackers. Thinleaf alder, water birch, and paper birch provide winter seeds that often attract common redpolls and pine siskins. And many other native plants, from asters to grasses, also produce seeds that various finches and sparrows may use.

Native plants for nectar

Fuzzy-tongue penstemon.

What about hummingbirds? These tiny, beloved hoverers often catch tiny insects – so providing habitat for insects is important to them, too. In addition, they’re well-known for their nectar-feeding habits. A variety of native plants with long, tubular flowers are popular hummingbird plants. These include orange honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa), yellow columbine (Aquilegia flavescens), scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata), beebalm (Monarda fistulosa), and the penstemons. Among western Montana’s common penstemons are Alberta beardtongue (Penstemon albertinus), fuzzy-tongue penstemon (Penstemon eriantherus), and small-flower beardtongue (Penstemon procerus). In addition, some of the plants I’ve already mentioned for insects or fruits – such as golden currant – are popular nectar sources for hummingbirds.

Obtaining plants

A black-capped chickadee foraging for insects on serviceberry.

Where can you find these plants? Some local nurseries, such as GardenWerks in Helena, carry a limited selection of native plants. In addition, I was able to find three retail nurseries in western and central Montana that offer a wide selection of natives:

Blake Nursery, Big Timber, MT: https://www.blakenursery.com/
Center for Native Plants, Whitefish, MT: https://centerfornativeplants.com/
Pipilo Native Plants, Charlo, MT: https://www.pipilonatives.com/

(A fourth nursery, Southwest Montana Native Landscapes, has unfortunately closed, though it still shows up on a Google search.)

A Bullock’s oriole in a black cottonwood.

To find out more, I contacted these nurseries and asked them which plants they stock, of those I list in this article. Find their responses here.

In addition to these retail nurseries, there are a few other commercial sources of native plants in western Montana. For larger projects, the Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery and Great Bear Native Plants accept wholesale orders. And if you want to start your own plants, Native Ideals sells locally grown seeds for a variety of Montana species.

American plum.

Note that certain nurseries that don’t specialize in native plants may “stretch” the concept of “native” to include species that aren’t from Montana. For example, Penstemon strictus is sometimes sold as a native plant, but it grows in the wild in the southern Rocky Mountains and doesn’t reach Montana. When in doubt, look a plant up on the Montana Natural Heritage Program’s Montana Field Guide to learn about its status in the state, or check out the Biota of North America Program’s county-level range maps. These maps are organized by genus and show the distribution, by county, of all wild and naturalized plants in the United States.

The bird-friendly garden

An American redstart in an aspen.

Is this a comprehensive list of all of the plants that are important for bird-friendly gardening in Montana? No! I’ve neglected to mention native maples (Acer spp.), raspberries (Rubus spp.), hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), and many others.

When it comes to growing habitat for birds, there are always more plants you can add. But even if you do nothing more than add a patch of chokecherries and a handful of goldenrods to your yard, where previously there was just lawn, you’ll have made a good start. As the chokecherries leaf out in the spring, wait for the yellow-rumped warblers to appear, hunting insects. When the fruits ripen in the fall, look for the flocks of cedar waxwings and robins. And if you have the space in your yard to include all of the plants I’ve mentioned here, along with a water source… in a few years, your yard will be a paradise for birds.

This story was produced with support from the Gold Country Master Gardener Association.

Five late-summer wildflowers and the complex world of their bees

Shane Sater — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 03:19:31 +0000

August 18, 2022

The edge of Kate’s yard, with Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) and Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata).

Sometimes, a day in the field doesn’t go as planned. I had started out this morning thinking that it would be a pollinator identification day. The setting: Carol “Kate” Wilburn’s urban Missoula yard. Since 2019, Kate has been converting her lawn into a garden packed with fruit trees and wildflowers. There are apples, currants, peaches, and apricots growing with dozens of species of native plants. She wants to have a yard where she can grow food, create wildlife habitat, and hold educational programs. Today, I wanted to take a look at the wildlife habitat. In a cityscape dominated by asphalt and houses, what creatures show up when we plant native plants?

In spite of the summer’s heat, Kate’s yard has been a profusion of flowers this year. At this season, there are five plants in particular that stand out: purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve), Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata), Missouri goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis), and Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani). When I arrived here and saw this palette of pink, purple, and yellow, several questions came to mind. How much diversity could we find here? What patterns would we see?

Kate is not just an avid gardener, but also my mom. We’ve been talking for months about doing a blog post on the insects in her yard. It seemed like a great opportunity to combine a visit with a check-up on her garden. Were the native plants really providing habitat for lots of insects here, as we hoped?

The best-laid plans

Kate Wilburn with a vial at the ready, catching bees from smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve).

The plan for this field day was simple. We would spend time focusing on each of these five plants, observing patterns of insect activity. We would also catch some of the representative flower visitors, sneaking up on them and popping them quickly into plastic vials. Just like I did with bumblebees last month, we would put the vials on ice in a cooler to let the insects chill. Then we would take photos of the chilled insects, identify them, and let them fly off.

The day was already hot when we started, with the sun near its zenith and the temperature climbing rapidly toward the 90s. We began with the purple coneflower. The insect-catching went well. Within 15 or 20 minutes, we had an assortment of bumblebees and orange skippers in plastic vials.

It was at the “identify them” stage that the plan started to go awry. Whether it’s a fluke of nature or some malicious taxonomic conspiracy, it seems that for every common species of skipper butterfly (family Hesperiidae), there is at least one other that looks nearly identical. We spent most of an hour cross-checking two different field guides, maneuvering recalcitrant skippers in a butterfly viewing cage, and debating. Eventually, we decided that the butterflies we were seeing were all a common, remarkably variable species, the woodland skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides).

Bees and their identification

An unidentified female bumblebee caught from purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).

Then it was on to the bumblebees – and they weren’t much better. The identification keys I have require females, but most of these bumblebees were males. We tentatively identified them as Hunt’s bumblebees (Bombus huntii), but we couldn’t be sure.

We finally came upon a female bumblebee, her abdomen mostly black with a yellow band at the base. This one would be straightforward, I thought! The cheek length of a bumblebee is both one of the most important characters for identification, and also one of the most difficult to discern. Quite sure that I was seeing a cheek that was as long as wide, I reached a dead end in the key. Perhaps it was slightly shorter than wide? Or slightly longer than wide? She was already warming up and beginning to wiggle. I took various photos and let her fly off, hoping that in the future I might learn to identify her.

Then it came time to look at an even-smaller bee, her hind legs coated in pollen. I flipped to the right page in my identification guide and took her off of the ice. Almost immediately, she began to twitch and wake up. I only had time to get a few photos and admire her briefly before she flew off. I looked back at the key, feeling defeated. Did she have just one subantennal suture or two? Was her tongue long or short? Forget it! Maybe this is why bee biologists usually work with specimens, I thought.

Too much

Rocky Mountain beeplant in Kate’s yard, with Missouri goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis) and smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) in the background.

I needed to adjust my expectations. Clearly, identifying all of these insects in the field was way more than we could reasonably achieve today. So instead, we did something that anyone can do in their yard. We watched flowers, took photos, and tried to distinguish different “species” in the field by shape, size, and appearance.

And although we ended the day with many questions still unanswered, what we saw was compelling. In Kate’s urban yard, each of these five plants is supporting a variety of insects. Each plant is unique, with its own community of pollinators. So come along with us on this journey: five plants, one afternoon, and a surprising diversity of insects in one small city yard.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).

The purple coneflower is a crowd of pastel, magenta-and-orange flowerheads rising above roughly textured leaves. This species is one of those wildflowers that wouldn’t be here without some human help. Although its cousin, narrow-leaved coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) is a Great Plains species whose range extends into eastern Montana, purple coneflower is a plant of eastern North America’s wet prairies and meadows.

A male bumblebee, perhaps Bombus huntii, on Echinacea purpurea.

Of the five plants we’re looking at today, this is the only one that isn’t actually native to Montana. In general, native plants are especially important for our local insects: the plants and the insects have been evolving together for millennia. Nevertheless, the purple coneflower is busy with bumblebees and orange skippers today. We also spot a few tiny bees that invariably seem to escape when we try to slip up on them with a vial.

Most of the bumblebees are those males with orange-banded abdomens that we tentatively identify as Hunt’s bumblebees (Bombus huntii). We also catch a female who remains a mystery, her abdomen boldly clothed in yellow and black.

Two woodland skippers (Ochlodes sylvanoides) nectaring on purple coneflower.

Along with the bumblebees, an assortment of woodland skippers (Ochlodes sylvanoides) are nectaring here. This is a very common late-summer butterfly across much of the west. An adaptable habitat generalist, its larvae can develop on various native and introduced grasses. The adults visit a range of flowers.

A few more bees

The first bee.

In about 15 minutes of observation, we spot just a single honeybee (Apis mellifera) here. So honeybees are visiting the coneflower, but not very commonly.

We also manage to catch two small bees. The first is smaller than a raisin, her hind legs dusted with deep yellow pollen. Each segment of her abdomen is tipped with bands of fine white hairs.

The second bee.

The other bee is larger, also with a banded abdomen. Its eye is pale green and the tip of its abdomen bears a prominent, spiny structure.

Except for the small, white-banded bee, none of these visitors seem to be carrying pollen. Are they only collecting nectar from the coneflower?

Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)

Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) with one of the bees we saw commonly on it.

The asters are busy clumps of pale lavender blooms, appearing feathery from a distance. The flowers are loaded with more nectaring woodland skippers, their tongues unfurled. The other common insects here seem to be a variety of medium and small bees. The most common are approximately raisin-sized. Like the smaller bee we found on the coneflower, they have white bands of hair across the abdomen. These bees are clearly females, collecting pollen on their legs. They make a barely audible hum as they buzz busily from flower to flower.

Another bee caught from smooth blue aster.

We spot another species that looks similar but is clearly smaller. From time to time, we also see a few bees with remarkably long antennae here.

The asters are very active with all of these takeoffs and landings. Just on these two plants that we’re watching, we’re seeing probably a dozen skippers. At any instant, there are close to forty bees on them.

Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, these are very likely solitary species, each female provisioning her own nest with pollen and nectar to feed her young. Honeybees get lots of press, but the diversity of solitary bees is incredible. Many of them are raisin-sized or smaller, like those we’re seeing here. Lots of them nest in the ground; others nest in hollow plant stems. And the fact that they’re here, in urban Missoula, tells us that these species are finding what they need to survive. I wonder how far they’ve flown to find these flowers.

Seeing the diversity

The small grayish bee (or wasp?) found on smooth blue aster.

We keep spotting additional species. There’s a little bee – or is it a wasp? – with a grayish abdomen, yellowish legs, and some yellow markings on the face.

Another bee looks like the green-eyed spiny one from the coneflower. We can’t know for sure without collecting both, but it seems likely that they’re the same species.

The different skipper, perhaps a common branded (Hesperia comma), found on smooth blue aster.

Nectaring alongside all of the woodland skippers, I notice a different butterfly. It’s similar to them in size and shape, but has much crisper white markings on the orange-green hindwing. I catch it for a closer look. After much study and debate, we decide that it’s probably a common branded skipper (Hesperia comma). Or could it be a western branded skipper (Hesperia colorado)? In either case, it’s another widespread member of our late-summer butterfly fauna. The caterpillars feed on grass, and the adults find nectar on a variety of flowers.

Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata)

Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata) with a single woodland skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides).

The beeplants have already been blooming for weeks, but there’s no end in sight. The pale purple flowers, with their long, protruding stamens, surround tight clusters of darker, unopened buds. These plants are annuals, growing from seed each year. Nevertheless, they’ve thrived for several years now in Kate’s yard, reseeding happily. Some of this year’s plants are as tall as I am.

An unidentified ant visiting a Rocky Mountain beeplant flower bud.

These flowers are by far the most popular today with the honeybees (Apis mellifera). But this afternoon, we’re not seeing very many other insects visiting them. Compared to the smooth blue aster, the activity level here is basically nothing. We spot a single woodland skipper. There’s the occasional medium or small bee that flies off before we can get a good look. I also notice several shiny ants crawling around on the stems and unopened flower buds. What are they doing? They don’t seem to be visiting the open flowers.

Watching the bees

One of the numerous honeybees (Apis mellifera) visiting Rocky Mountain beeplant today.

As always, observing insects in the field is humbling. There’s so much more out here than what we can photograph or catch. A bumblebee moves briefly from flower to flower. Its abdomen is mostly yellowish, and I suspect it may be a white-shouldered bumblebee (Bombus appositus). I decide to try for photos instead of catching it in a vial. It bounces from flower to flower and I follow it with my camera, just a little bit too far behind. Then it flies off, and I have neither the bee nor its photo.

I watch the honeybees here more closely. Their pollen baskets are empty, and they seem to be poking their heads deep inside the flowers instead of paying attention to the widely spreading stamens. They aren’t bothering with pollen; presumably they’re collecting nectar here.

A black and white wasp is flying from cluster to cluster. But like the ants, it’s paying attention to the flower buds rather than the flowers themselves. It’s another mystery that we won’t unravel today.

Missouri goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis)

Missouri goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis).

The goldenrods are sprawling, enthusiastic fountains of yellow covered in the activity of various small insects. Many of the plants are knee-high, evidently appreciating the water here. In their usual, sun-baked grassland habitats, Missouri goldenrod stays much shorter.

One of the predatory wasps caught on Missouri goldenrod.

Wasps are common here this afternoon. I catch a prominently striped, yellow and black species: probably a predatory wasp in the family Crabronidae. If I’m right about the family, these are wasps that specialize in hunting various other insects. Some hunt beetles, some hunt caterpillars, and some even hunt other wasps and bees. They carry their prey to their nests, providing food for the larvae. The adults, on the other hand, feed mostly on flower nectar.

Another wasp is a little bit larger and blacker. A broad, prominent yellow band crosses the abdomen, which comes to a distinct point. These wasps are more skittish than the bees, and it’s difficult to catch them.

Another predatory wasp found on the goldenrod.

We see the occasional, medium-sized pollen-collecting bee here, resembling those we found on the smooth blue aster. There are also several well-camouflaged, speckled tan bugs visiting these flowers.

Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)

Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani).

Almost as tall as the beeplants, these perennial sunflowers form vigorous, upright patches with bright yellow flowerheads and sandpapery green leaves. The sunflowers in this yard are a bit of a botanical mystery. They were sold as Maximilian sunflower, and seem to have some characteristics of that species, a native of eastern Montana. But while Maximilian sunflower leaves are usually folded in half along their midvein, like small green canoes, these leaves are more relaxed. This makes them look more like Nuttall’s sunflower (Helianthus nuttallii), a common species in our intermountain part of the state. In either case, these are striking plants. And the bees seem to be loving them.

We catch a medium, hairy gray individual with sky-blue eyes. Another one, densely covered in white, has hairy scoops on its forelegs.

There are several tiny bees with blunt abdomens. A couple more woodland skippers and what appears to be another Hunt’s bumblebee are visiting these yellow blooms.

One bee has extremely long antennae, green eyes, and a stiff covering of hairs. Another is small and narrowly cylindrical, with yellow markings on the legs.

Bees and beetles

The blister beetle Kate found on the Maximilian sunflower, likely Epicauta ferruginea or one of its close relatives.

A few of these bees – like the one with the long antennae – seem similar to species we saw earlier on the smooth blue aster. But many of these bees are new to us today. As with the other five plants, the insect community on the sunflowers is largely unique.

Kate spots a solitary beetle, medium-sized and brassy-haired, on the sunflower blooms. This is a blister beetle (family Meloidae), probably Epicauta ferruginea or one of its close relatives. The adults feed on the foliage and flowers of sunflowers and related plants – but the larvae are specialized predators in the soil, hunting down grasshopper egg pods and feeding on the eggs. Grasshoppers are rare in the middle of the city, so this blister beetle is a special find.

Catching glimpses

Rocky Mountain beeplant, with Missouri goldenrod in the background.

One urban Missoula yard, surrounded by asphalt and lawns. Four species of native plants, and one immigrant from the tallgrass prairie. What we’ve seen today is just a glimpse of this community, but it’s a tantalizing one. Each of these flowers is different – not just to our eyes, but to the insects’ eyes, too. Each patch holds its own stories of the pollinators it supports. For the purple coneflower, it’s the stories of nectaring bumblebees and woodland skippers. The smooth blue aster supports more skippers and a variety of pollen-collecting bees. The Rocky Mountain beeplant is feeding honeybees, ants, and a smattering of less-common visitors. For predatory wasps, the Missouri goldenrod is proving important today. And the Maximilian sunflower is harboring yet other species of bees.

There’s so much more we could ask here. Which bee and wasp species have we seen today? What are their life histories? Are they floral generalists or specialists? Twig nesters or ground nesters? But to answer those questions would take a much more intensive project, or someone much more skilled with bee identification than I am.

The bees and their flowers

A honeybee (Apis mellifera) on purple coneflower – the only honeybee we saw on this plant all afternoon.

We can’t answer those questions today. But anyone can go out in their yard and do this. Anyone can glimpse the sorts of general patterns that we’ve seen. In Kate’s yard, it seems, each of these flowers is adding something unique to the pollinator habitat that’s present. And they aren’t growing in isolation: there are also fruit trees, vegetables, and dozens of other native plants here. Some bloom earlier, some later.

The plants in this yard have only been here for two to three years now. But already, by spending part of a single day looking at five flowering plants, we’ve tallied 21 species of insects on these blooms.

It would take more sleuthing to learn the full stories of the insects we’ve seen today. But anyone can plant native flowers in their yard. Anyone can go outside, sit next to a patch of blooms, and spend a few minutes getting acquainted with the insects they’re attracting to our yards.

And if you’re looking for a few more beautiful, hardy native plants to boost pollinator diversity in your yard, here are some ideas.