A Month of Pollinators – November

With Covid making the winter ahead look rather long and devoid of travel and related fun, I’ve amused myself on my Facebook and Instagram accounts by posting a pollinator each and every day since November 1st. I might take a short break during Christmas week, but given that pollinator photography is one of my specialties, I’ve pledged to celebrate these little creatures throughout winter until March 31st, using the hashtag #janetsdailypollinator. Although my daily social media posts always feature a few extra photos showing either more insects on the plant I choose, or a few plant combinations incorporating the plant, or even a few items I bake with the fruit produced by the pollinator (!), I thought it would be fun to let my little pollinators star in a few blogs, too. 

So here is November, beginning with November 1st and a pair of Greek honey bees on the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) that I photographed on my botany tour of Greece last autumn. I wrote a special blog about our saffron crocus day, too.

November 2nd – Bumble bee on fall monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii ‘Arendsii’) in my Toronto garden.

November 3rd – Honey bee, hoverfly and bumble bee on fall snakeroot (Actaea simplex) in my Toronto garden. I wrote about this very late perennial combination in a blog from 2017.

November 4th – Squash bees (Peponapis pruninosa) in a ‘Marina di Chiogga’ squash at Montreal Botanical Garden.

November 5th – Monarch butterfly nectaring on butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 6th – Honey bee on forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) at Toronto’s Spadina House.

November 7th – Bumble bees on showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka. If you want to read about goldenrods, have a look at my post “Sparing the ‘Rod, Spoiling the Bees” from 2014.

November 8th – Ruby-throated hummingbird on Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ at my cottage on Lake Muskoka. Want to see a video of the hummingbird on this plant? Have a look at my YouTube channel video.

November 9th – Monarch butterflies on Rocky Mountain blazing star (Liatris ligulistylis) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka

November 10th – Hoverfly on oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 11th – Honey bee on Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) at the University of Guelph Arboretum.

November 12th – Bumble bee on nodding onion (Allium cernuum) with Russian sage in the background at Toronto Botanical Garden.

November 13th – Megachile bee on hoary vervain (Verbena stricta) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 14th – Pure green gold sweat bee (Augochlora pura) on sacred basil or tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) in a deck pot at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 15th – Honey bees on banana flowers (Musa acuminata Cavendish Group) at Miami’s Fairchild Botanical Garden.

November 16th – Bumble bee on Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica) at Toronto’s Casa Loma.

November 17th – Bumble bee on eggplant flower (Solanum melongena ‘Gretel’) at Montreal Botanical Garden.

November 18th – Honey bee in Digitalis ‘Illumination Flame’ at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

November 19th – Bumble bee on yellow cosmos (Cosmus sulphureus) at the Ottawa Experimental Farm.

November 20th – Painted lady butterfly on plum blossom (Prunus domestica) at Toronto’s Spadina House garden.

November 21st – Monarch butterfly on drumstick allium (A. sphaerocephalon) at Toronto Botanical Garden.

November 22nd – Bumble bee on yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. I love the white flowers of June in the cemetery; have a look at my blog “June Whites” from 2017.

November 23rd – Honey bee on ‘Red Sprite’ winterberry (Ilex verticillata) at the High Line in New York City.

November 24th – Ruby-throated hummingbird on ‘Apricot Sprite’ (Agastache aurantiaca) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 25th – Bumble bee on fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) at the Torrance Barrens in Muskoka.

November 26th – Bumble bee on foxglove penstemon (Penstemon digitalis) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

November 27th – Honey bee on pomegranate (Punica granatum) at the Tucson Botanical Garden.

November 28th – Bumble bee and honey bees on globe thistle (Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’) at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

November 29th – Honey bee on apricot blossom (Prunus armeniaca ‘Tropic Gold’) at Seaside Gardens, Carpinteria, California.

November 30th – Monarch butterfly on New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) at my cottage on Lake Muskoka.

And that’s it for November’s little pollinators!  If you want to see my multi-photo posts with their associated anecdotes, join me on Facebook or on Instagram! See you later this December with the pollinator crew from the last month of 2020!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *