#mountcuba

[usgsbiml]

What we don't know...about Andrena polemonii.  See this specimen?  This came from the wonderful native plant center in northern Delaware called Mount Cuba.  Matt Sarver found it doing surveys of bees and targetted the ��plants that had specialist bees known to associate with them.  One of those plants is Polemonium reptans which is the host to the bee pictured.  So no big deal that Matt found a bunch of the bees except for the fact that the nearest known record for that species was on the border of Ohio and WV.  Does that mean they flew in from WV to visit Mt. Cuba?  Almost certainly not, more likely than not there are pockets of A. polemonii between these two sites...just no one has looked.  Photo by Anders Croft.      Yup, they are blueish

[backyardgardeningadventures]

Dec 18:

The 150 plus year red oak 💜 in our backyard woodland edge has almost finished dropping its leaves. Phew! It’s the last to let go (except the beeches that have much smaller leaves). I’ve enjoyed raking the leaves off the grass and bringing them out to the woods. Good exercise. I learned from #mountcuba classes that it’s best not to mulch them first as there are beneficial insects/eggs on them. And I leave the leaves on the garden beds. They help add nutrients to the soil, retain moisture and keep the weeds out.

#redoak #quercusrubra #nativetrees #fallleaves🍁🍂 #backyardhabitat #ecologicalgardening