Many pollinators of Douglas Aster

Douglas Aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum)

Late-blooming plants such as asters provide a valuable food source for many pollinators.  Pacific Northwest native Douglas aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum) has a long flowering period, from late August into October, grows about 1m tall, and spreads by underground rhizomes to form big clumps. Popular aster cultivars are often bred to produce many petals for better looks, but in turn produce little nectar and pollen, which makes them less attractive and beneficial to pollinators than wild species like Douglas aster. However, your local nursery will probably not sell Douglas aster.  I got mine from the Native Plant Society of British Columbia's stand at the VanDusen Botanical Garden annual plant sale. 

Douglas aster in my garden attracts a wide variety of pollinators, here are some of them:

The cutest butterfly, Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides)

 Long-horned Bee (Melissodes) -

Leafcutter Bee (Megachile) -

Green Sweat Bee (Agapostemon) -

Sweat Bee (Lasioglossum) -

 Black and really small, about 5mm long, this is either a Carpenter Bee (Ceratina) 
or a Sweat Bee (Lasioglossum)  They can be hard to tell apart.

Syrphid Fly (Eristalis)

Syrphid Fly (Eristalis)

Syrphid Fly (Syritta pipiens)

Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii)

Common Eastern Bumblebee (Bombus impatiens). Widely used in 

greenhouse pollination, it is one of the most abundant bumblebee 

species in Eastern North America, but it is not native to Western Canada. 

It has been a regular visitor in my garden for a couple years now, likely 

naturalized here from greenhouse colonies that have escaped into the wild.

Honeybee (Apis)

Nesting Season

After days of consideration, a pair of cheekadees has decided to move into the house we made for them. 

They are busy gathering moss for the nest from an old pear tree.  At the same time a pair of bushtits is building a nest on the neighbour's fir tree, collecting lichens from the same pear tree, and flying back and forth from one tree to the other almost all day.

A Red-tailed bumblebee queen (Bombus mixtus) was also checking out the birdhouse for a potential nesting site, but the cheekadee chased her away. 

Some bumblebees, like red-tailed (Bombus Mixtus) and orange rumped bumblebee (Bombus Melanopygus) will sometimes nest in birdhouses if there is an old bird nest still inside. 

A Red-tailed bumblebee queen (Bombus mixtus) finding some 
refreshments on a heather before continuing her search for  a home

It's been couple of weeks since warmer temperatures awakened bumblebee queens in Vancouver. After spending the entire winter underground they are busy looking for suitable nest sites. Bumblebee queens do not build their own nests but use abandoned mouse or bird nests, or even insulation in the house attics. It is important that at this crucial time they have a good supply of nectar and pollen. In my garden they will sometimes visit heathers and flowering quince, but their real favourites are red-flowering currant, oval-leaf blueberry (a native blueberry that flowers extra early) and salmonberry. Read more about the bumblebee's life cycle  in this guide.

A Yellow-faced bumblebee queen (Bombus vosnesenski) on an Oval-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium)

Red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

A Yellow-fronted bumblebee queen (Bombus flavifrons) on red-flowering currant

Two queens paid me a visit!

At this time of the year my garden is overflowing with flowering snow crocuses. I imagine they were planted by the English lady who lived in the house some 60 years ago, and spread over the years to cover every corner of the backyard. These crocuses, smaller and wilder than the hybrid ones you can buy at garden centres today, are probably the original wild crocuses native to Europe. 

Honeybee in the sea of snow crocuses.

On a sunny day they attract large number of honeybees, hungry for some fresh pollen and nectar after the long winter.

European honeybee worker collecting pollen. 

Crocuses are also popular with drone flies (Eristalis tenax, introduced from Europe), mimics of honeybees.

The drone fly, a European hoverfly, is widely established in North America.

Now, I don't care much about honeybees or drone flies since they are nowhere to be seen around my flowering fruit trees or blueberry bushes, let alone tomato plants, when they need pollination. From what I've seen, various native bees are the main pollinators in my food garden. Apart from feeding me apples and plums, native bees provide a crucial service,  pollinating native plants so they can set seeds, procreate and provide food for insects, birds and other animals in our ecosystem.

That is why I got excited when I noticed, among all those honeybees, two bumblebee queens, stumbling about from flower to flower, still drowsy and weak from a long winter hibernation. They must have spent the winter buried in the soil somewhere in my backyard, since they were not able to fly for long or far. These bumblebee queens, born at the end of last summer, are the only surviving members of their colonies. As soon as the weather becomes more consistently warm, they will start their own nests. Here they are, searching for nectar to gain much needed energy.

Black-tailed Bumblebee queen (Bombus melanopygus).

Yellow-faced bumblebee queen (Bombus vosnesenskii).

Early flowering plants are of great importance for emerging bumblebee queens. However, not all plants that you see flowering at this time are providing nectar for bees. For instance, daffodils or forsythias have a pretty face, but, much like plastic plants, are totally useless in providing any food for local wildlife. If you live on the Pacific Northwest coast and care about the survival and well-being of our native bumblebees, plant some early flowering and nectar rich plants, like Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis),  a native bush that is in flower in Vancouver right now. Another great native bush getting ready to flower is Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum). Unlike crocuses, these bushes will also provide nectar for overwintering Anna's hummingbirds, as well as berries which are loved by birds.

One of the two Indian Plums I planted last year is still too small to flower.  
For berries, you must plant both male and female plants.

Red-flowering current flower buds.