A break in the awful early summer heat allowed me to do a bit of work in the garden this week. I noticed that my Rome hawthorn was looking a bit ragged and decided to prune it up; as I was making a few early cuts, I heard a light buzzing and realized that paper wasps were making a nest in the bare branches.
I was delighted to see these wasps doing their thing "in the wild" (normally we see them attached to our structures like windows and eaves). I have left them alone except to visit occasionally to see how the construction is going. It's been interesting to see the different colors of the paper as they chew on different materials.
You can read more about these native pollinators in a book published by Heather Holm in 2021. I reviewed that book in an earlier post.
These #momentinnature posts are meant to inspire others to take time to appreciate the little things around us. In addition to the pollination services they provide, wasps also help with pest management as they prey on other insects for their offspring.
I know this is off the subject but what do you think about the Joro spiders? I have friends who let them be and others who kill them. What do you say? (I think they are invasive myself, and I try to kill the ones that I can get to.)
ReplyDeleteI have written about these before and yes I do kill them if I can reach them. Even UGA has finally admitted they should be removed near pollinator gardens and beehives.
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