The Great Georgia Pollinator Census count is in the books
for its third year. At my counting locations we managed to miss the predicted
rain and therefore enjoyed good counting weather; I love clouds on a hot day!
On Friday I counted at my house, using a single thistle flower, cutleaf
coneflower, and – my favorite – Joe pye weed.
The thistle (Cirsium
altissimum) had just opened its first flower and while its counts were low,
just 3 skippers in 15 minutes, it was a flower much loved by these skippers. They
stayed on that flower for hours, only briefly leaving when another insect
jostled them.
The cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia
laciniata) and Joe pye weed (Eutrochium
fistulosum) are summer favorites and their counts absolutely reflected
their popularity with insects (plus they also had more flowers per plant than
the thistle). I like to count the Joe pye weed in the afternoon when the
Eastern Tiger swallowtails are at their most abundant. The big inflorescences
can hold 3-4 butterflies at once!
On Saturday I took my grandson to a friend’s house; her
garden had tons of things in bloom, including a thistle with many more flowers
that attracted several large American bumblebees as well as tiny sweat bees and
Tiger swallowtails. The ironweed (Vernonia
gigantea) was buzzing with smaller bees, including several nice metallic green
sweat bees. The mountain mint (Pycnanthemum
pycnanthemoides) was blooming nicely and just covered in bees and wasps.
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| American bumblebee |
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| Metallic green sweat bee |
I always enjoy this activity and the interest in pollinators
that it generates in Georgia. In particular, many K-12 students participate in
schools around the state. According to news
published about the 2020 count: “In the end, 3,755 people representing 124
counties participated in the 2020 census, collecting close to 82,600 insect
visit observations. Additionally, 525 new pollinator gardens have been created
as part of the project.” Here is my previous post about the 2020 count. If you're in Georgia, do join us next year!
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| This guy graduated to a mini clipboard this year for the count |
My Joe Pye weed had already bloomed out, but my ironweed and agastache made for great counting plants. My ironweed is so huge- about ten stalks, each with its own enormous head of blooms- that I had a hard time keeping up with all the insects. Interestingly, I saw only bumblebees on the ironweed in the front garden; the carpenter bees preferred the agastache in the back garden.
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