Floral Visitors

Garak garak@code-garak.de
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:05:16 PDT
Hi Travis.

wonderful pictures and very precise observations here, a pleasure to 
read. I'm always a bit jealous on your hummingbirds, since there are 
none in Europe - closest thing is the Hummingbird Hawkmoth, cute little 
fellows, which increased in numbers around here in the last 30 years 
when the climate got notably warmer.

Unfortunately, I have more of a problem with my floral visitors here in 
southern Germany: the bumblebees somehow have learned that the easy way 
to feed on Mirabilis Jalapa is to bite through the side of the tube and 
directly drink from this short cut - which then again lets the flower 
wither and most of the time destroys the style, strongly reducing my 
seed harvest. I've grown Mirabilis J. for at least 20 years, and I've 
never seen such behavior.  To make it worse, they now expand this 
knowledge to other plants: I've found side-entries to Digitalis Lutea 
and Antirrhinum Siculum, looks like any funnel-shaped flower too tight 
for bumblebees is under attack. This summer was extremely hot and dry, 
so I hope they're just desperate and return to normal in following 
years. this, or I'll have to work without my beloved mirabilis.

Greetings
Martin

Am 01.08.2015 um 19:23 schrieb Travis O:
>   I've uploaded some new photos in a new blog post in my "Floral Visitors" series. Crocosmia and a few Alliums are the featured bulbs (members of the Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, among others, make up the rest). Enjoy:
>




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