When we got married five years ago and I moved into his house, we started converting the lawn to flowers. It started very small – just a short hillside, which was hard to mow anyway. That was so successful that we’ve been chipping away at more and more of the grass every year.

We started buying flowers with gift certificates we received for our wedding: mostly perennials, some of them native plants. Now the only thing I will consider adding to the permanent garden is natives (though we do have annuals in pots each summer, too).

As the flowers have taken hold and expanded, more and more insects and other critters have been taking up residence. Who knew that swapping bluegrass for native plants would result in such a large insect community? (She wrote with dripping sarcasm.)

I recently added a list of my favorite flower posts to the sidebar. All five involve bugs.

Starting today, February 14, I’m going to start taking a look at all of the insects and other fauna we spotted in our yard this year. If I tackle one of these categories per week, at the end it should be about the time to start a new growing season! (April 8 note: I was right! Spring is right around the corner.)

• damselflies and dragonflies
• flies
• ladybugs and other beetles
• caterpillars and butterflies
• honeybees and bumblebees
• other bees and wasps
• arachnids
• other bugs
• animals

But first, some bugs I haven’t yet identified (on plants I have identified).

Invasive creeping bellflower:

Native black-eyed susan:

Common milkweed:

Joe-pye weed:

Butterfly weed:

Common milkweed:

Bee balm:

Common milkweed: