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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 15h

Good morning. Some of the biennial Standing Cypress that I planted in spring decided to bloom now instead of waiting until next year. I planted them for the hummingbirds to hopefully replace the cypress vines. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱 #hummingbirds

A short spike of red Standing Cypress flowers. It has skinny needle-like foliage with small red trumpet flowers at the top which open into five-pointed stars. Ipomopsis rubra.

A female hummingbird hovering over the Cypress Vines that are growing on top of my doghouse. I am still seeing female birds but the males have already left for Mexico. The cypress vines are nonnative and somewhat invasive but I hate to remove wildlife plants without something to replace them. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thanks, totally random, they usually just look like a blur while flying.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A Cardinal Jumping Spider and grasshopper from the garden today for #Arachtober. Phidippus cardinalis. #spiders #gardening

A black spider with a large crimson red head and deep orange abdomen punctuated with two rows of black dots clasps a grasshopper, together with several grass spikelets. In the background are blurry green and yellow bitterweed flowers. These spiders are mimics of velvet ants, which are actually wasps with a painful sting. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Salvias are great for the bees right now, too.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I would definitely want the ironweed and button blazing star for late-season nectar.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Good morning, getting ready to go to the ONPN native plant fest in Tulsa today. I hope you enjoy watching this carpenter bee pursuing his queen as much as I do. #bees #gardening 🌱

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

These are annuals, so you just plant seeds in spring like with zinnias (mine reseed). I keep thinking I'll get rid of them completely as soon as I have a native plant the butterflies like more. Next year I hope to have liatris aspera and more frostweed plants.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

They are cosmos sulphureus. They aren't native here, though, they're from Mexico. Mine come back from seeds every year and this year I put them in the strawberry bed to make more room for native plants.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've been out trying to get a good Monarch picture for #flyday, but it's been difficult. #butterflies

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A Butterbutt Fly for #flyday, Belvosia borealis, a Tachinid that parasitizes Ceratomia hawk moths. #insects #diptera #gardening 🌱 #bugsky

A large bristly black fly with two prominent yellow bands on the end of its abdomen sits on a passiflora leaf.

Another view of the Butterbutt fly from the butt end. The yellow bands on the abdomen have a greenish iridescence and a row of black spiky bristles between them, also the fly has yellow feet which I think are kinda cute for some reason. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think it was the severe heat and drought this year, compared to 150% of normal rainfall last year. But there were also a couple of mosquito spraying companies selling door to door in my neighborhood this summer, which I'm sure didn't help.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Native Plant Fest in Tulsa Saturday! I'm hoping to find some shrubs there. #nativeplants #oklahoma #tulsa #gardening 🌱

A decorative poster featuring goldenrod and bees for the Oklahoma Native Plant Network Native Plant Fest, Saturday Oct. 3, 2026 from 11 to 5 at Heirloom Rustic Ales in Tulsa, 2113 E. Admiral Boulevard. I plan to be there.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I haven't seen many gulf fritillaries this year at all, and no caterpillars at all so far, although I usually have tons. I don't know why, maybe drought, but I miss them. I have more than enough passion vines, that's for sure.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Eastern Carpenter Bees stealing nectar from the Azure Sage. Their passionflowers aren't blooming a lot now that the weather is changing, so they have to make do. #bees #nativeplants #BlueTuesday 🌱 #gardening

The same bee, seen from behind grasping another salvia flower and drinking from the top of it. Her wings are a little frayed on the edges.

An extreme closeup of another carpenter bee drinking from a sage flower. The holes they make are usually hidden under the edge of the calyx.

A closeup of a Salvia azurea flower with some visible holes in it from carpenter bee feeding. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I hope I never see them in my garden, I have enough predators already. I'm right at the edge of their range.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Thanks, it's starting to wind down, doesn't like the cooler temperatures.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A pastel assortment of native perennials for #SixonSaturday. I thought the hibiscus were finished blooming, but the recent rains woke them up. #gardening #nativeplants 🌱

A collage of six flowers, left to right: white Frostweed, Verbesina virginica and potter wasp Eurodynerus pratensis; lavender Maypops, Passiflora incarnata; pink Swamp Rose Mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos; Azure Sage, Salvia azurea; Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum; Mealycup Sage, Salvia Farinacea and a pink Pyrausta inornatalis, Inornate Pyrausta moth. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cute colorful snout moths in the garden. Coffee-loving Pyrausta Moth and Inornate Pyrausta Moth. #moths #gardening 🌱 #bugsky

A tiny moth with bright red wings accented with wavy yellow stripes and dots, sitting on the tip of a standing cypress leaf. It has a pointed snout and long antennae that sweep back over the wings. Pyrausta tyralis. The host plants are listed as Psychotria (wild coffee) which is rare, Bidens and Dahlias, and probably still-unknown plants.

A tiny bright coral pink moth rests on a mealycup sage flower. It has the same protruding snout, backswept antennae and pale legs as the Coffee-loving Pyrausta. Salvia farinacea is a host plant for the caterpillars. Pyrausta inornatalis. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

They like the little sapling redbud leaves especially. Right now they're cutting annual winecup and firewheel petals. I want to see them cutting and carrying the leaves but never have.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Two leafcutter bees on the butterflyweed, and a tiny predator. I took this a few weeks ago, but the females are still active cutting the flowers. #twosday #bees #insects #gardening 🌱

A clump of orange milkweed flowers with two leafcutter bees feeding on it, male and female. Both bees have black bodies with pale gray hair on the thorax and abdomens with black and white stripes. The female at top has black eyes and thick scopal hairs to collect pollen on her belly. The male has green eyes, a face full of blond hair and forelegs covered in tufts of yellow hair that make them look like little crab claws. Megachile policaris. A tiny jagged ambush bug is visible at the bottom. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

These are Unexpected Cycnia Moths on the milkweed, and it's true that I wasn't expecting them. #nativeplants #insects #caterpillars #gardening 🌱

Two orange caterpillars covered in tufts of thick gray hair feed on leaves of Asclepias tuberosa. Half a firewheel flower, Gaillardia pullchella, is at the bottom of the frame. Cycnia collaris or inopinatus.

A closeup of the head of an Unexpected Cycnia moth caterpillar, which looks like two shiny burnt orange oval head capsules with the mouth at the bottom.

A milkweed leaf with a caterpillar on the back, its hair tufts sticking out around the edges. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Io moth caterpillar. I think this one is looking for a place to pupate because they eat tree leaves and it's checking out the Standing Cypress. The spines are venomous. #caterpillars #insects 🌱 #gardening #lepidoptera

A fat lime-green caterpillar with many branching thistle-like spines that are larger and denser on the head end, and long narrow stripes of red and white down each side, Automeris io. It is on the ground about to climb on the leaves of a Standing Cypress plant. There is a boneset seed clinging to its side.This caterpillar eats oaks, redbuds, hackberries, plums, and lots of other common trees and shrubs, and the moth is very pretty. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Oh no! I've never been stung by a bumblebee, but I've never found a nest, either.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Me too, and quite a few dragonflies, bees, and wasps, just not so many butterflies. But I did see three new species this summer, black swallowtails, purple hairstreaks, and a zebra swallowtail, so I shouldn't complain.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A Painted Lady on the boneset. A little sad because there haven't been nearly as many butterflies as last year, but glad this heat is about to end. It's supposed to be about 20 degrees cooler here next week. #butterflies #nativeplants #gardening 🌱

A Painted Lady butterfly drinks from white boneset flowers with wings folded upwards. The upper wing has blocks and bars of white, orange and red on a bark-brown background with a few tiny eyespots. The lower wing has a more muted pattern of soft warm browns, white and blue-gray overlaid with a lacy network of white veins, and a row of four small blue eyespots. The body and legs are white and tan, with white-tipped antennae. Vanessa cardui and Eupatorium altissimum. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I don't think you need to get the parts underground as long as its dead, it doesn't live in the soil.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Here, too, though I see it in hackberries the most.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A Great Purple Hairstreak, my first sighting of this butterfly. The caterpillar's host plant is mistletoe. #butterflies #gardening #nativeplants 🦋 🌱

A Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly feeding on white boneset flowers with its wings closed. The dark gray undersides of the wings have a mauve cast in the light, but the name comes from the back of the wings, which are actually bright blue. The head and shoulders are black with white dots and the abdomen of the butterfly is blue on top and orange-red underneath, with small white and larger red spots along the base of the wings close to the body. There is a swath of brilliant iridescent blue showing along the bottom edge of the top wing, and the bottom wings have tips of black with iridescent green and blue blocks and swishy black hairstreak tails. This is the largest of the hairstreak butterflies, although still fairly small. The plant is Tall Boneset, Eupatorium altissimum. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Trying to get in before opening time for breakfast. #bees #SundayYellow 🌱 #nativeplants

A yellow male American Bumblebee feeds on a closed purple passionflower that looks like a tight messy wad of string inside. He is a furry yellow bee with a black stripe between and beneath his dark wings and a black head. His legs have a reddish tinge and the hair on the last segment of his abdomen is tinged orange. Bombus pensylvanicus on Passiflora incarnata.

Now he is really digging in and his legs are sticking out sideways. Maypop flowers don't open up until afternoon.

Holding on tight with his face buried in the flower. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Accidentally hit the Object Identifier button on my phone and this is what it came up with. (Open to see caption.) #caterpillars

A picture of a Monarch caterpillar climbing up a flowering orange milkweed stem captioned "Clothespin".

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Happy Saturday. The frostweed planted last fall is starting to bloom. It's a really tough shade plant and a vital nectar source for Monarchs and other butterflies that migrate in late summer. Verbesina virginica is native in the southeastern US west to Oklahoma and Texas. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A long-horned bee on the Firewheels from a sunnier day this week. #bees #insects #gardening 🌱 #nativeplants #insectthursday

A male long-horned bee feeding on a red Gaillardia pulchella flower. He is a small be with thick golden hair on his face, shoulders and legs, green eyes, long antennae, and a black abdomen with faint stripes of white hair. The picture shows the whole flower and the bee's small size. It is probably Melissodes dentriventris, the Tooth-bellied Longhorn Bee. We know he is male because females have shorter antennae.

A closeup picture of the bee from the side.

The bee's face is long and covered with golden hair and grains of yellow pollen. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Carolina Mantis on the Maypops. She tried to grab four bees while I was watching, but they all escaped. Stagmomantis carolina. #insectthursday #mantids #gardening 🌱 #invertebrates #nativeplants

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Some bumblebees hard at work for Labor Day. Bombus pensylvanicus. #bees #gardening 🌱 #nativeplants

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Two of those companies were selling their services door to door in my neighborhood earlier in the summer. I wonder if that's why I haven't been seeing nearly as many butterflies this year.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The plants still have lots of leaves and are still blooming. I have several kinds of milkweed beetles but not enough to defoliate the plants.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

He or she ate the whole thing by the next morning. Right now the only other species of milkweed I have is A. Viridis, and they are pretty scrawny plants, but those are supposed to be most popular with the Monarchs around here.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I was thinking of a twinkie, but same concept.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Unless they're really small, they should come back.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I just assume she is female because she is building a nest, otherwise I have no clue.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The Great Golden Digger Wasp builds a nest with many chambers underground. She will carry a paralyzed grasshopper to each one and seal it in with one of her eggs attached. Sphex ichneumoneus. #WaspWednesday #wasps #insects 🌱

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

More plants from the garden. Blue Mist flower, Beautyberry, the second generation of Firewheels and Standing Cypress. #nativeplants 🌱

A cluster of Blue Mist flowers that look like little blue-purple pompoms made of string. The flowers are always a little more blue than they look in my pictures. Conoclinium coelestinum. These plants spread like wildfire if they're happy.

A closeup of a Beautyberry branch with rounded clusters of magenta-purple berries spaced along the stems and bright green leaves that sprout from the berry clusters. This was planted last autumn. Callicarpa americana.

Red and yellow Firewheels blooming in a brick-edged flowerbed with orange Butterflyweed. I planted these in mid-June from seeds taken from the first crop of flowers that bloomed in spring, after pulling the dead annual Winecups that were growing here before. Gaillardia pulchella.

A green plant rosette with finely divided leaves like a tiny cypress tree. This is a biennial that (I hope) will bloom next year with tall spikes of small red trumpet flowers all along the stems, for the hummingbirds. Ipomopsis rubra. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Leavenworth's Eryngo is an annual native to KS, OK, TX. This is my first year to grow it and all my plants seem to die just as they reach peak purple. I thought I'd better catch this last one to show you before it's gone. (Bonus spidey!) Eryngium leavenworthii. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱

Looking down at the top of a plant with many spiky, intensely purple flower heads shaped like little pineapples. One pineapple houses a tiny white crab spider. The lower stem of this plant looks dead and crappy by the time it blooms, so it looks best sticking out of other plants that hide the bottom. I stratified the seeds in the fridge because my direct-sown seeds didn't sprout. My plants only got a few feet high, but I've seen pictures of very tall (6 foot) specimens. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Good morning, gardeners. I've been at my Mom's all week helping her after surgery, and now I gotta get back to work. Bee back soon.

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