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Category Archives: Native plants
Two-Fer!
Dragon- and damselflies don’t often perch on photogenic flower heads, so when I found this one yesterday I was pleased. Of course it’s not a flower, but close enough. This is a female emerald spreadwing damselfly (Lestes dryas), clutching the … Continue reading
Posted in Insects, Native plants, Odonata (dragons and damsels)
Tagged damselfly, Native plants, odonata, Ohio, Toledo
7 Comments
Holy Lupines, Batman! (aka Blue Week)
Today marks the end of the annual celebration known as Blue Week here in the Oak Openings region of northwest Ohio. Blue Week is an event of the Green Ribbon Initiative, a consortium of local organizations working to protect the … Continue reading
A Visual Ode to the Holiday
These are Familiar Bluets in their heart-shaped mating wheel. These damselflies belong to the insect order called Odonata, and we often shorten that to “odes” when talking about them among other ode lovers. And below is a photo of one … Continue reading
Posted in Insects, Native plants, Odonata (dragons and damsels), wildflowers
Tagged alternate perspective, heart shapes, insect love, mating
7 Comments
Special Garden Visitors
At the risk of getting ahead of myself before I catch you up to real time in the new native garden series, I want to share some observations from my garden today. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the primary … Continue reading
Posted in Insects, Native plants
Tagged bee, fly, gardening, lepidoptera, moth, native species, Ohio, parasite, Toledo, wasp
6 Comments
Going Native in Toledo — Series Intro
In the spring of 2017 I moved to Toledo, Ohio. I bought a house with a lovely yard where I would finally be able to experiment with native plant gardening. I’m beginning a series of posts to document what I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Insects, Native plants, Ohio, Toledo
Tagged biodiversity, gardening, insects, Native plants, Oak Openings, pollinators, Toledo, wild ones
1 Comment
City Girl Goes Wild
You may recall that I recently wrote about my desire to plant native wildflowers in the yard at my new home. I also mentioned that I had joined my local chapter of Wild Ones, a national organization devoted to preserving … Continue reading
Posted in Native plants
Tagged biodiversity, Native plants, Oak Openings, Ohio, plant nursery, preservation, Toledo
7 Comments
Gentian Trifecta
I’ve mentioned that this spring and summer have been a time of flower exploration for me. Whereas in past years I might travel to find certain bird species, this year I traveled around northern Ohio to see our various wildflowers … Continue reading
Posted in Insects, Native plants, Odonata (dragons and damsels), wildflowers
Tagged blue flowers, dragonflies, gentian
2 Comments
Going Native in Toledo
In recent years, I’ve spent a lot of time around people who are knowledgeable about various aspects of the natural world: ornithologists, entomologists, and botanists — both professional and amateur. Like me, most of my friends are passionate about their … Continue reading
Ohio Has the Blues
The region of northwest Ohio where I live is called the Oak Openings. It’s one of the world’s rarest habitats, a band of sandy soil about five miles wide and 80 miles long, stretching across Ohio and southeastern Michigan. When … Continue reading
Posted in Native plants, Ohio, wildflowers
Tagged butterfly, endangered, Karner Blue, Lupinus perennis, Oak Openings, Ohio, rare, wildflowers
10 Comments
