JULY 2026 NEWSLETTER
The Hidden World of Insects
July means heatwaves and sunshine, beach days and summer vacation. For our native plants it might mean blistering hot growing conditions and dry soil. To help keep moisture in the soil and keep the roots of your plants cooler cover the soil with a nice layer of mulch. I just watched a fantastic three part documentary about soil called “Kiss the Ground“. I guarantee you will want to mulch everything in sight after watching this film.
You may have planted some new native plants this spring. Hopefully they have had enough time for their root systems to establish. If they are well mulched they probably will not need to be watered throughout the summer. I only water if my plants are starting to droop, otherwise I leave them alone. They are amazingly resilient!
In this newsletter I am going to share some of the adventures we have been having with insects. Insects are an essential part of ecosystems. They have also been declining at an alarming rate over the past few years, a true insect apocalypse, with losses of over 75%. This summer we were fortunate to hire a student with a background in entomology. He has been taking insect surveys and introducing us to the insect species that are present at our seed production sites.
Here are the highlights from this month’s newsletter:
- Caterpillar host plants
- Moth light sheet
- Malaise trap
- Flower flies: the super pollinators
- iNaturalist project
- Seeds back in stock and new species
Caterpillar host plants
There has been a lot of focus in the last 25 years on saving pollinators. When we talk about pollinators we quite naturally think about flowers and butterflies and bees. This is all wonderful and good, however, we often lose sight of the other parts of an insect’s life cycle, including the caterpillar. Without caterpillars we do not have any butterflies or moths. While butterflies and bees might visit a variety of different flower species, the caterpillars tend to be pretty specific about which group of plant species they will eat.
The Monarch caterpillar – milkweed combination is probably the most famous example but there are many more. This spring we were delighted to watch some American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) butterflies visiting our Field pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta). Where they came from and how they managed to find our plants is a mystery. A few weeks later, while collecting seeds, we found lots of American lady caterpillars creating little protected areas for themselves inside the leaves.
Moth light sheet
As part of our insect surveying we set up a light sheet to see what moths and other insects are at our site. A light sheet is just a white sheet with a light shining on it at night. The moths and insects are attracted to the light. We discovered that black light was more effective at attracting insects than a white light bulb. Black light bulbs are inexpensive and easy to find. This is a simple and fun activity you can do in your own backyard.
I did not know what to expect from the light sheet, but the beauty, diversity and number of moths was astonishing. There were small bird dropping moths (named because they look like a bird dropping) and large luna moths the size of your hand. Some had beautiful colourings, like the rosy maple moth, and many of them were very camouflaged.
Malaise trap
Another way we are surveying insects is using a malaise trap. The malaise trap was invented by Dr. Rene Malaise in the 1930s. After spending the day catching insects in the field Dr. Malaise noticed that there were more insects in his tent than he had managed to catch that day. So he set out to design a trap in the shape of a tent.
We have set up a Malaise trap at our new site to establish a baseline insect inventory. We hope to see many new species of insects appearing at the new site over the years as our native seed production beds become established.
Flower flies: the super pollinators
Guest author: Alex Maclellan
Syrphids (Family Syrphidae), also called flower flies or hoverflies, are a group of pollinating flies that are often overlooked. They can be found, as their common names suggest, hovering around flowers, feeding on nectar and pollen. Flower flies are key pollinators, second only to native bees, and are incredibly important to both native plants and agriculture. Many species mimic stinging bees and wasps with remarkable similarity in order to deter potential predators. Flower flies take on many appearances, but commonly feature black and yellow stripes, such as in the Eastern calligrapher (Toxomerus geminatus) pictured here feeding on wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare). The larvae of many species are also beneficial to humans, feeding on common pests such as aphids and mites.
iNaturalist Project
If you would like to follow along and see all of the interesting insects we are finding on our surveys you can check out our Swallowtail Native Plants Insect Surveying Project. So far we have recorded over 200 different species at our two main seed production sites.
Seeds back in stock and new species available
We have been busy harvesting and cleaning the first round of seeds that are ready in the spring. Field pussytoes and Red columbine are now back in stock. We have a few new sedge species available: Carex pedunculata, Carex leptonervia and Carex sprengelii.
May you and your native plants stay cool in the heat this July,
Andrea