Keep Collecting!
Greetings everyone! It might seem like the season is winding down for pollinators - and it's true that most of what we're seeing is Bombus impatiens at this point, but that's certainly not all that's still active. Thanks to our intrepid student collectors who have been dutifully bringing us specimens from our pollinator gardens, we will be adding a few late season Asteraceae specialists to our campus list, along with some cuckoos.
We designed our plantings to have a bloom turnover - that is, different flowers in bloom sequentially from May through October. So there's actually quite a lot in flower right now on campus! As of the first week of October, multiple aster species are in full force, as well as our bur-marigold and black-eyed susans, with some straggling goldenrods here and there. The seaside goldenrod hasn't even started blooming yet!
The following two photos are from mid-September
We strive to make our plantings unique and interesting, full of unusual species for ESF's botany aficionados to enjoy. So go forth and discover!
Flax-leaved stiff aster, Ionactis linariifolia, in the Campus Dr. beds
Nodding bur-marigold, Bidens cernua, in the Bray bioswale
Submit your sightings to our project, or bring us some specimens - you can rent some collection vials from our lab in Illick 411. In addition, students are always welcome to collect seeds from our gardens to grow your own natives.
Once the season is over, we will be diving into specimen identification, and will give a major species list update sometime in late autumn or early winter. We are also planning to make plant lists for each campus garden available soon on the Bee Campus website.
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