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The Rusty Patch

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All things pollinator - providing for, protecting, preserving, promoting This is a pivotal moment in history, and we know there's many who won't heed the call.

The Rusty Patch is my little slice of surburbia that I've returned to the pollinators, and those little critters entertain me all summer long. I mean, I once saw a bee faceplant in her food just before takeoff, and it's my new favorite meme. This site is a carefully curated collection of resources to help you ditch the turf lawn and plant a pollinator yard, and other sustainable, conservation, or environmental activist-y type things. It's all about restoring our environment back to it's healthy state, you know, before the humans crashed the party, trashed the place, then passed out half naked on the couch, oblivious to the mess we left in our wake. It's time to work smarter, not harder, people. It's time to focus on less - less leaf clearing in the fall, less fossil fuels on lawncare equipment in the summer, less water wasted on drought-susceptible turf lawns, less money spent on soil annihilating pesticides and herbicides - and give the planet and your wallet a chance to heal. Less is more, 100%.

08/29/2024

🎉 It's wooly bear season and I found this cutie under the raspberry leaves at The Rusty Patch. 😍 They munch away on leaves all Fall and overwinter in the leaf litter like frozen prickly Cheetos. 😉 I'm sure many end up as bat food once they're moths - the bats around here look well fed!

Most fuzzy, adorable bears won't give you dermatitis if you touch them, but this one might. 😉
The bears with sharp teeth and claws might give you something much worse, though 😆 unless they're pandas, who will only give you giggles 😂

07/20/2024

After rubbing elbows with royals over the last 4 years at The Rusty Patch - the flying bumblebee queen kind 😉 - you'd think one more royal in the mix wouldn't phase me.

But this bright beauty growing oh-so-high is the most royal of them all! Meet Royal Catchfly (or silene regia sims for you Latin nerds out there 😉). She's rare in my state due to habitat loss, so I offered her room and board here 😆

She is so royal with her long calyx capped by the pretty red petals, she only lets the swallowtails and hummingbirds feed on her nectar. 👑 She lays a sticky trap for the little crawling insects trying to sneak into the goods the back way.

RIP little insects 😔

07/19/2024

📣 New Species at The Rusty Patch 📣

Rusty's Resort has put a spell on this delightful little amphibian - a leopard frog has settled into the wildlife pond at The Rusty Patch and she shows no sign of leaving 😍

The wildlife pond is wildlife-approved! 🐸

I wonder if our spotted spa-goer was one of last year's tadpoles? 🤔 I mean there were so. many. tadpoles! 😮

04/20/2024

Here at Rusty's Resort the marsh marigolds are marvelous on this mid-April morning 😍 These sludge lovers were newly adopted last year and rehomed at Rusty's Resort during a heat wave plagued by drought.

The itty bitty insect I caught feeding on their bright yellow blossoms had a better breakfast than I did! Why don't I get brightly colored foodstuffs offered to me poolside for breakfast?!! 🤨 I must have a word with my partner about this significant oversight on his part. 😁

09/22/2023

Ah, summer's end. The asters are colorful even in massive drought, the goldenrods are luring the pollinators with their irresistible goodness, and the hummingbirds are in full aerial animosity mode with their stabby beaks. So cuuuute! 🤩

Hope they don't fight all the way down south. They will. 😆

I feel like a distant video shot with a phone camera of two blobs flying around attacking each other was a win. They ARE hummingbirds, and it IS a mid-range android phone. 🤷‍♀️

Nevermind that these female feathered flitters started their argument 10 feet from me and I didn't think to pull out my camera THEN. 🙄

I hope you enjoy this little clip. It was a much better experience in person. 😉

08/07/2023

I sure do love blazing star season 🤩
So do the pollinators! 🐝🦋 Blazing stars (aka liatris, aka gay feathers) sure do have an uncanny resemblance to s**g carpet, tasseled things, and Dr. Seuss book art. 😉

These purple popsicles of furriness attract all kinds of visitors with 2-6 legs...from tiny skippers to our iconic monarchs, and bees of every persuasion. They must be as tasty to the pollinators as they are to my eyes!

Judging by the crowded flowers, I could do with a few more blazing stars at The Rusty Patch...
No, I'm not just justifying my next over budget plant purchase. 👀

I mean, my next plant purchase 😅

07/19/2023

The baby partridge peas are all grown up!
The bees are pleased ❤️

07/17/2023

📣 New resident at The Rusty Patch 📣

This is a longhorn bee. They have a serious ironweed addiction. which is great, because I have a serious ironweed affliction at The Rusty Patch. It was just a matter of time before they found each other...😆

There is surprisingly little information on these bee babies in the online realm. However, I now know:
1. They have long antenna. Ok, I could have just guessed that one, but also;
2. Their eyes are usually a metallic blue, green or black. In some species the eye color is gender-based.
3. They love ironweed

Luckily for them, ironweed likes to grow. Everywhere. Like, EVERYwhere.

The songbirds clearly need to do a better job getting their food in their mouth when eating ironweed seeds all winter. 😉

07/16/2023

The hyssops are in bloom, and the hips are hanging heavy on our pollen pocket ladies here at The Rusty Patch😉

The resident bombus impatiens were impatiently waiting for the hyssops to share their wares after the salvias got stingy with theirs.

Meanwhile, the bee balm is setting up shop at every corner wooing the convenience crowd, and I caught Ms. bombus impatiens there on many occasions looking for meal deals. Don't let her fool you, she's a savvy food-finder.

The farmers know this and worked out a deal with her...she buzz pollinates the berries, melons, and tomatoes, and in exchange she gets to keep all the pollen and nectar she collects! 😁 Move over honeybees, there's a new kid in town. Who isn't exactly new. More like, just not previously widely recognized for her efforts. 😉

06/13/2023

It's been a wild time at the Wild Blue Indigo this season - the bloom time is so short on these ginormous shrub wannabes that there's just no time for idle chit-chat with the bees. It MIGHT explain why the conversation I was having with my bee babies seemed to be fairly one-sided. 😉

I caught a few pics of the multitudes of Black and Gold bumblebees while they gathered the goods alongside leafcutter bees and brown belted bumblebees. They might not talk much, but they sure do share well. 🐝❤️

05/20/2023

Oh looky, what do we have here❓ 👀
Baby partridge peas! 🎉🥰

Nature's attempt to grow these from seed has yielded about a bazillion more plant babies than my human attempt to grow them from seed. 😉

If my math is right, that means I can expect a gazillion of these deceptively dainty nitrogen-fixing powerhouses popping up next year! I can't wait until they're old enough for play dates with my bee babies. 🥰

05/04/2023

😍🐝 First bumblebee of the season‼️ 👏

Her royal highness wasn't in the best of moods, judging by her overall disheveled-ness...and her 'hangry' buzzing when I interrupted her business. 😉

Of course, she spent a forever-winter underground and just today warmed up enough for movement. Same! Except for the underground part. 😆

Thank goodness for the spring blooming willow that moved in a while ago. It has a way with the pollinators. It's like a bee whisperer.
🙂😐🤔

Hmm, it IS extremely generous with it's food stuffs. Clearly, it's not above bribery. 😆

I'm onto you, willow. 😉

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