With a little over 3 weeks until the start of the fall semester, it is rightfully grind season here in Wooster. The vegetables are growing, the pollinators are froing, and my Independent Study is getting going!

[College Garden]

Marvelously Mulched

The Vegetable Garden Assistants did a wonderful job mulching the lower garden. It’s amazing to see the beds ap(bee)r so vividly against the wood chip paths!

Yellow Hellos

Two new blooms this week in the College Garden: Wild Senna and False Sunflowers!

False Sunflowers, *Heliopsis helianthoides*

Floating Fly-Bye Friends

Sign Coming Soon…

Along with the signs I am constructing for my I.S., I will also be drafting designs for the Pollinator Patches signs! In addition to filling the posts below, the upper garden will also receive its very own sign. Hopefully the end results leave y’all s(bee)chless!

[Pine Patch]

Happy Hues

No new blooms to the Pine Patch this week, however, the False Sunflowers have really taken over the aisle way despite the on-surge of aphids.

Buzz on the Block

[Vegetable Garden]

Peppers, Pickles, & Pollinators

Sunflower Towers

Estranged Sisters

Pollinators in the Plot

[Bee-Search]

Fantastic Phenology

Here are the top microscope photos from this week’s iNaturalist updates…A big whoo(bee) is in order for this week after uploading all of the 6/18/22 specimens to our C.O.W. Pollinators and Plants Project!

Ready, Set, Dry!

With one round of this summer’s sampling completed, I decided to start pinning bees from last year’s collection. I finished up the 8/5/21 set and just have two more collections from 2021 to pin be(e)fore we’re back on track!

[Vi.s.iting Rittman]

Spot the Bee!

Hint: Do you really need the tip?

Augochlorini on Blue Vervain, *Verbena hastata*

Continuing the Collecti.ons.

A semi-successful “hunt,” I managed to find 5 bees today on my second pan trap sampling of the William J Robertson Nature Preserve! With my sites finalized, it’ll be(e) a breeze to re(bee)t another round or two of specimen collections. Next week I intend to set out transects and catalogue the various plant biota I find!