Bumblebee Hard At Work | Mrsroadrunner Photography

Bumblebee Hard At Work | Mrsroadrunner Photography




Meet again this Bumblebee! This Bumblebee is working on a Foxglove Flower, even this big Bumblebee can still fit into the flower blooms!





This Bumblebee acts aggressive but really, never had a bad experience. This species will challenge you by aggressively flying quickly into your face, or check you out by circling you. This is what bumblebee's do with flowers, they go round and round. They work on some flower blooms by circling them as well. This is just from my observations, if the Bumblebee does that in front of me I am sure they show the same behavior in your garden?

I do like the shot above showing the two sets of wings!



Some photographs I use ONLY for id use, some are stand alone photographs. Which is which is something I have to decide as the photographer. I feel I may put a couple of these shots out in the public as stand alone photographs? We will just have to wait and see?





I do not use my tripod all that much. Why? I feel tripods are restrictive when it comes to wildlife. I am not that far away from my subjects. If they would allow me closer I would change lenses and get in closer ha! Fact is I had a visitor here yesterday who did not stick around long and who was just to close! I did not have the time to change lenses..... if you are a photographer you know not everything comes out the way you see it in your head. All we can do is do our best!





This is the last photograph of this series I am showing. I am going to try to limit my photographs on these blogs to six or less. Lets see how I do with that ha!

Thank you for coming by and checking out this Bumblebee working hard on this Foxglove Flower. BTW the Foxglove does have it's bad point however the great thing about growing Foxglove Flowers is? The pollinators LOVE the Foxglove!

Bumblebee and the Cosmos Flower Bloom

Bumblebee and the Cosmos Flower Bloom




Meet one of our common pollinator here at our garden! Round and round the bee goes!



If photographs do talk for us there is not a whole lot more I can say! You can see the photographs I took for yourself!



This flower is the Cosmos Flower.



































We do have several kinds of Bee's here at the house now, even though there is not to much to eat out there at the moment!

Thank you for coming by and checking out my Photographs!

Honeybee On A Ozark Sundrop Flower

Honeybee On A Ozark Sundrop Flower




This series of photographs is of a Honeybee working on this Ozark Sundrop Flower!



There was more photographs to this series then I showed here. This Ozark Sundrop (Ozark Sundrop is not the scientific name by the way), is one of several plants of this species we had growing in 2014. This Ozark Sundrop was growing in our driveway! This was not even part of the flower bed, though several species of flowers wanted to grow in this rocky, dry nasty soil so I let them! Who am I to argue with something that wants to live so badly.....



The Ozark Sundrop is in the Primrose family and has a striking yellow bloom that really stand out! Guy and I were speaking of this flower this morning and think we got this four or five years ago from perhaps bird droppings?? We are just not sure how we got this Ozark Sundrop growing here?

In the front in this nasty, rocky soil the Ozark Sundrop grows short like a bush. Somehow (birds?), we got this in the back flower bed in which this Ozark Sundrop grew taller then our six foot dog fence and wide!! Fighting for the sun in the flower bed which the soil is better taken care of. That larger Ozark Sundrop spread rapidly!! I cut the lower branches off, and pulled out the plants that grew from the roots. I also dead headed the blooms that rapidly produced seed pods to control the spread of the Ozark Sundrop in this location.



As you can see from my photographs the honeybee is heavy with yellow, sticky pollen! So much of this yellow sticky pollen that the honeybee at times was under stress when trying to fly. The photograph above shows how much pollen was on this honeybee.



You can see in the photographs how well this Ozark Sundrop flowers! Many pollinators are attracted to this bright yellow flower blooms! Unlike other flower blooms that pollen is light and can be carried by wind, us who have allergies know of this all to well! The Ozark Sundrops pollen just seams to heavy to be carried by the wind...... I dont seam to sneeze like crazy around the Ozark Sundrop blooms anyways....



The Honeybee sure did not feel it had to much pollen on it.... the honeybee kept coming back!



You can in the photographs while the Honeybee is in flight the Honeybee has a bit of this pollen on it.











Then back to the bloom the honeybee goes!



The Honeybee I did watch for a time as well as photographing the Honeybee's behavior. The Honeybee to me appeared to be to heavy to fly..... though I am not a Honeybee so....







The Honeybee kept going back to the Ozark Sundrop flower !



The Honeybee in the above shot flew to another bloom so I figured I had enough photograph of this happening and went on to another happening here in our garden. Our garden can keep me busy for hours just all the activity going on here!

Thank you for coming by and checking out my photographs I take in my part of the High Desert of Oregon, and / or reading my observations I write along with my photography.

Hoverfly On The Cosmos Flower Bloom

Hoverfly On The Cosmos Flower Bloom




Meet the Hoverfly. I have several other posts of the Hoverfly. This Hoverfly is busy on a Cosmos Flower Bloom. Hoverflies are beneficial to our gardens!



I ran across someones post gosh it was lately, however I cant remember whose? As if I would name drop anyways which I try not to do..... The thing that was written sounded as if the writer did not realize the Hoverfly is a beneficial insect. The ultimate insect we like to see in our gardens is of course the Honey Bee, however the Honey Bee is disappearing at alarming rates. This is a sad fact. Thus many gardeners are seeing other beneficial insects helping out like this species of Hoverfly.

I also grow plants inside the house. Bare with me here as I get this thought out. I noticed as one of my Spider plants was continuously flowering and giving me seeds what on earth is pollinating this house plant? So I watched..... results? House flies were in fact pollinating this Spider Plant of mine! Of course we are not real fond of these house flies, we also have blow flies here in our area do to the cattle, other lifestock in our area. Same results. These nasty , dirty insects are in fact pollinating our flowers and my house plants! I much rather have the Hoverfly then these kinds of flies! However we do not invite anything inside the house, they just show up just like everyone elses homes. Point being is pollinating. I get seeds off not only my Spider Plant......



You can see by the shadow of these shots I do use natural sunlight. The sun just happened to be positioned in the sky to cast the shadows you see.



I am not sure why we have a healthy population of such things as the Hoverfly? I have a theory that is all it is though. This theory of mine is , we had a neighboring property that was uncared for. Being uncared for , for the years it was resulted in natives plants flowering. Weeds really. These native weeds brought the Hoverfly in. A nice population of them! Now the home and property is cared for, we will just have to see what happens in 2015......



I may allow these native plants, basically weeds do there thing in one spot of the property, however the town does spray chemicals to kill such things. We do not use such things here, however we do understand why the town sprays the sides of the roads. Some of our roads are dirt, then covered with rocks. Native weeds will take over the world! Causing fires when the life cycle is over and the plants / flowers dry up. Driving over these dried up flowering, "weeds", the undercarriage of your vehicle will start fires. Wildfires are something everyone should be mindful of in the High Desert where we can get very dry. How many folks think of just driving over dry vegetation will cause a wildfire? When I first moved over here I never thought of such a thing! A second, (maybe third?), generation rancher / farmer here made this very clear to me!



There are many species of Hoverfly! This is the common species we have. The face I have noticed seams familiar with the Hoverflies I have seen here. Big eyes! Like a fly will have, and of course the different kinds of Hoverfly, hover! They beat their wings very quick allowing them to hover over the flowers in which they help pollinate! Dont kill them, just watch what happens with your fruit, flowers etc. !

Thank you for coming by my post! Happy growing in 2015!

Honeybee Arrival In Jefferson County Oregon

Honeybee Arrival In Jefferson County Oregon




This is a typical bigger Honeybee operation that goes on in agricultural areas such as ours. These Honeybee's arrive by train. This area is a holding lot. Much like a cattle holding lot, however these are Honeybee's. You will not find this quantity of hives in someones backyard!



I do not advice anyone who is allergic to these insects to do such a thing as I did as far as visiting this holding lot.

First I called up and spoke to the scientist who is, was (?) doing a Honeybee study at this location. Then calling up the land owner to ask for access to their property. Then of course walking on over to the location. I would have loved to be a onlooker when getting these photographs haha!!

Keeping in mind, smoke can be a good thing!! Lighting up a cigarette kept the stings down to just one. Keeping in mind these Honeybee's are not wild per say, however they just arrived at this location. Tired, thirsty and cranky!



Somehow as I picked out the photographs to show you the photographs copied themselves so the photographs are a mess if you go to the album to look around!





These hives get shipped to different farms around our town where this is all located. If you happen to be walking down one of these farm roads, or even driving by with your window rolled down, well you may just get to meet some Honeybee's personal like!

Carrot seed is huge in our area. Someone has to grow it for your favorite garden store to sale to you, right?

We are known for many other crops, however the carrot seed is a big one around here where the Honeybee's help is priceless! Can you imagine hand pollinating something like the carrot seed!?



I also walked over to where the Honeybee's were getting their drinks at. Any insect who has traveled pretty much in any manor is going to be thirsty! I am one who will buy insects to have them shipped here to home. Insects such as ladybugs,praying mantises, some others. The last shippment of ladybugs arrives half dead. So, I stopped buying from that business. If you know of anyone else with a better live arrival rate, and better customer service, can you let me know? We are in Oregon.



I was much more comfortable at this location. The water is not where the Honeybee's live so they are much more docile!! No reason to protect something that is supposed to be for everyone.....



I may have even shown these photographs before?? I recall being at another location that I have permission being at and WALLA Honeybee's were drinking at that spot too. Not sure why I was surprised? Perhaps I was surprised for that other spot was really just a big mud puddle! A mud puddle made by farm equipment and pick up trucks.





This to is one reason why our garden just hums with the sound of Honeybee's as well. Our town is not huge and this holding lot is not a far walk. Honeybee's are supposed to like to stay and work one kind of flower, however we have a big infatuation to our garden when the Honeybee's show up!

I also notice the Honeybee's that come to our ponds, garden are sickly. Because of people using these killer chemicals? We know the Honeybee's come to our garden so they should be going to other peoples gardens..... "My brothers keeper", is something that seams to come to my mind. I sarcastically joke about, "not being my brothers keeper",  for most folks do not care about anything but themselves. Who cares if the Honeybee population dies out, right....... Not here to preach and this is a subject I can get real passionate about. Guy humors me and just lets me rant haha



Just joked with Guy about my ranting. Saying you heard it all before (my rants), but dogonit these people may not have! We both laughed and Guy says to you all,"Sorry about your luck", haha! Keeping the wording clean for some of my younger readers!

In the shot above a couple Honeybee's are gathered for drinks. I like to watch the Honeybee's communication between each other, doing jigs and what not! Predators have a field day with the Honeybee as well! Picking off the Honeybee one by one. No wonder they stay in groups! While I was here the birds staid away. The other insect did not......

I think that is enough photographs. I do have more photographs in the album I made just for this post, though like I said they are kind of a mess.... Thank you for coming by and checking out my photographs and reading! Even if some of my ranting came out in the process..... See you on Monday with whatever else I came up with haha

Life on The Columbine Flower

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Life on The Columbine Flower




Meet the Columbine Flower and the pollinators the Columbine attract to your garden!

Many of us gardeners are getting ready for the season of outdoor flowerbeds and vegetable beds. We are no different! The excitement of colors, smells and the visitors can get overwhelming for some of us! Specially those who are dealing with snow and cold weather.



The Columbine that we grow is the "old world", species. That is they have beautiful spikes. The new hybrids do not have these spikes. However we have noticed the hybrids do have more colors. We chose not to grow the hybrids due to Guy. Guy rejects every species of Columbine seeds we find that do not have the long "spikes". Once you get the Columbine established you really do have to keep them under control in some places.



insects. Aphids like the Columbine!! Can not express this enough! Ants of course use aphids as we use cattle. The ants you can watch them take the aphids placing the aphids where ever the ants want the aphids to feed on what ever plant. The ants care for the aphids just like people care for their milking cattle.

We overhead water the Columbine to deal with the aphids. Of course this is not a full prof plan! One drop of water can kill a aphid or any other small bug for that matter. The aphids are nasty creatures, ladybugs can and will eat a enormous amount of aphids. Being organic, we do come up with all kinds of things to battle such things as aphids ........ There are other things that attack the Columbine but aphids are our main concern.



Yellow appears to be the natural base color for us anyways? We have a lot of yellow Columbine, even if they start out another color. Yellow tends to be dominant.... to my observations. We do have wild red columbine here in Oregon that are smaller flowers, smaller plants.

Our Columbine reach are oh three feet give or take. Typically I dont even bend over to clip off the seed pods.



I went ahead and put in several shots of the life on the Columbine Flowers in this post.



Our Columbine are in several places in the garden. They do not seam to care for full sun here in the High Desert. Of course watering is a must for anything one grows here.....



The White Columbine seen above with the Hoverfly was impressive in 2014. Big blooms, long spikes. Flashy blooms.



The Honeybee's really like the Columbine!! Like I said though you got to control those seed pods!! The photograph above shows a seed pod! The seed pods dry up and SNAP!! You can hear them SNAP! The seeds fly!! Walla, another plant or two or more start growing! Like any living creature the Columbine flowers are no different - they want to take over the world!

Noticing the Columbine will also give off these very long flower stems. These flowers will produce seed pods which can fall over reaching pretty darn far for a flower. SNAP, the seeds go flying even further away from the main plant.



Along with the flashy flowers, the pollinators the Columbine flowers attract, the Columbine have great foliage. Or we think so!

The clover looking leaves stay green for a long time!! When the flowers get done just trim back the stems! Walla you have a nice bunch of clover kind of looking, green leaves!



Bumblebee's , oh my goodness do the Bumblebees like the Columbine! In the shot above you see the red Columbine, along with the Yellow and there is a seed pod in these shots.

We have many pollinators here at the house, thus we get a lot of seed pods.



The soil where these Bumblebee shots and some of the others has been fortified with cow manure we get for free at one of the many cattle places here. Not every year of course do we have to feed the soil. Every oh , two to three years we notice it needs done again. You just have to feed flowers ie plants or well you are not going to have them!

We also do something that is a HUGE no no, I do not recommend anyone to copy this and no one should do this in the part of the garden where you or your family will consume what is grown. We throw the dog poop right into the soil! We have a shredder, and that is thrown in there. We also have a mulch pile that too is thrown into the flower beds. People ask us how do you get your flowers to grow like that!! Well, we just laugh..... if folks do not stay on the walking paths, guess what they get on them haha

Of course we add other things, we have a lot of birds here that do there thing, then we buy such things as basic "top soil", and soil places sell in bulk and Guy is afraid some day of coming home from work and seeing a dump truck here unloading soil additives haha! The cattle "stuff", is not "clean". Meaning if you choose to go this route you really do not know what is going to grow!! Talking of weeds, and the bugs! Though really , we do not have to do this every year.

If you are going to add meat eating animal dung into your garden, we feel it is "dirty", to add this kind of stuff into the area where you will eat what is produced. Why it is considered a huge no no..... I could get way more into this topic but you get the idea?



In this post I wanted to show a couple pollinators. SO many more show up here on the Columbine!! You can see some of the photographs I have uploaded so far over on the insect album here

Since we do grow many of the flowers I photograph it is rather easy for me to talk about them. I also do my best in the insect photography album to say what flower which ever insect is on. I also photographs the wildflowers. At times I am invited into other peoples gardens (where of course the gardener gets photographs for allowing me in), and I do on occasion visit commercial business's. I do believe in the barter system hint hint hahahahaha

All in all our property is not huge by no mean, however with a little planning. Some work and money thrown in (how much money spent really depends on you), anyone can grow such things as the Columbine flowers!