Learning to love insects was the best part of my 2023 gardening year!
Until this year I doubt if I would have even noticed the insect pictured above in my garden. It appeared one day last summer and, experimenting with a macro lens, I took a picture of it. What looked to my naked eye like a dark colored ant turned out to be a beautiful Golden Sweat Bee – an important native pollinator! Little did I know that I would fall in love with both insects and macro photography.
I was able to identify the insect by uploading the photo to BugGuide and iNaturalist, fantastic resources which allow amateurs to identify most insects with a simple phone camera or macro lens photo. Once you identify them, you can begin to find out what they are doing. Here the tiny bee (less than a quarter inch long) is either pollinating or drawing nectar from the nearly as tiny Butterfly Weed flower. The native garden has so much going on- the more you look, the more fascinating it gets!
My photo of this Painted Lichen Moth (left) was one of the first times I saw what looked like a dull gray insect turn into into a gorgeous pink-blue pastel colored moth with an interesting face. I was astonished!
Above are some of my favorite pictures from this year. Left to right – Spotted Salamander, Monarch Caterpillar, Monarch Butterfly, Two-spotted Bumble Bee. I can’t wait for next season to continue to take pictures and explore the mysteries of the native garden. I do have my fingers crossed that we have a more normal amount of rain.
Extreme warm and wet weather has been the lowlight of 2023
Rain leads me to 2023’s lowlight. Sadly, this year’s unusual and extreme weather has put a literal damper on things. Average temperatures in New Hampshire have risen more than 3 degrees since 2000, and rainfall since 2005 has averaged 6.8 inches more than the 1895-2004 average.
Our summer set records for rainfall, and December seems to be going the same way. The picture on the left above was taken December 4 and the one the right was taken December 24. A massive tropical storm brought more than 5 inches of rain to the valley over a 12 hour period on December 17-18, melting the alpine snowpack and causing rivers to surge and flood. Damage to roads and bridges disrupted travel for days.
What can gardeners do to help?
One significant way gardeners can help is by taking steps to help pollinators, which can be disrupted by changes in rainfall and temperatures. Providing the native plants they need, removing invasive plants which can take over, minimizing clean up, avoiding pesticides, mowing less and avoiding gas fired garden tools like leaf blowers also will help.
Thank you for reading, commenting and liking, and Happy New Year!
Did you have a garden highlight this year? I’d love to know. Thanks very much for reading my blog this year. It’s been a real joy to write it and get comments and likes. I’m looking forward to sharing my 2024 garden stories with you!
Best wishes for a Happy New Year!