By Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director A decade ago, people would ask me about how to attract butterflies but not bees. And then people would ask me about bees but they meant specifically honey bees. I’ve noticed the pollinator conversation is now at the point where native bees are prized in all their zippy, […]
By Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director Wasps get a bad rap, especially the big ones, like the spider wasps. When “Alien” screenwriter Dan O’Bannon was looking for the ultimate monster, he went straight to spider wasps for inspiration. And why not? Spider wasps are fast, sleek-bodied fliers, often associated with painful stings. They are
By Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director The statuesque body of a bumble bee seems the opposite of what we think of as aerodynamic, and yet they fly up to 5 kilometers (over 3 miles) to find pollen and nectar. Well, you haven’t seen anything yet! I’d like to introduce you to our native digger
By Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director Is it possible to get tired of butterflies? Back in September 2017, weather radar recorded a 70-mile-wide blob over the Denver metro area; meteorologists realized that the blob was thousands of painted lady butterflies. People on the ground noticed, too – every flower was covered with orange and
Painted Lady Butterfly Read More »
By Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director Imagine you are enjoying an evening stroll in your neighborhood and stoop to smell a vibrant pink rose. All of a sudden, your attention is drawn to the rose’s leaves, which look like someone enthusiastically took a hole puncher to them. Now, for those people who aren’t thinking
Written by Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director Spring has its own energy. We emerge from our winter hibernation ready to take on challenges, fill up our calendars, and try new experiences. However, I hope that none of us is too busy to savor the signs of spring in our gardens and landscapes. The crabapples
Written by Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director Most of us think of butterflies as colorful, even gaudy. We imagine them frolicking in the warm summer sun without a care in the world. This month’s pollinator, however, is a butterfly of a different stripe altogether. The mourning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) wears dark, mysterious colors
Mourning Cloak Butterfly Read More »
Written by Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director One of my favorite harbingers of spring is the golden currant bush (Ribes aureum). In April and May, this native shrub blooms with clove-scented golden flowers that attract many pollinators. One of the pollinators it feeds is our Hunt’s bumble bee (Bombus huntii), or as I like
Written by Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director There are certain garden stories that I hear so often, I can recite them from memory. This year, I predict that at least one person will tell me about the monarch butterfly that visits their garden every day at the same time. I will nod with interest
Two-Tailed Swallowtail butterfly Read More »
Written by Amy Yarger, Butterfly Pavilion Horticulture Director If I were to come up to you and say, “I’m planting a garden that attracts flies!”, what would you do? Would you back away slowly from me? Envision a trash dump? Flies are usually perceived as dirty, annoying insects, but there are over 16,000 species of
