Texas Thistle and adoring fans

Look at this mob of pollinators! I love the wee little green guy there on the left. This is a blooming Texas Thistle (Cirsium texanum). This was far from the only flower in the field, but for some reason all of these insects wanted to party on this one!

Texas Thistle is native to North America and to Texas – it is a common sight along roadways and open fields where I live. It thrives in full sun and on rainfall only. I don’t know about yours, but that sounds like a must-have for one of my gardens!

From left to right, I think we have a Pipevine Swallowtail, an insect that looks like a bumblebee – but probably isn’t – and honeybees. It provides nectar, seeds for birds in the fall, and nesting material. Where can I get this fabulous plant? For me, it will be easy – I can stop along the road in the fall and collect seeds. I was expecting to be able to tell you that you can get this seed at Native American Seed – but the closest item I found is called American Basketflower (Centaurea americana). If I find out where these seeds are available, I’ll post a comment.

Now THIS is a bumblebee! If you look close enough, you can see that this bumblebee and the look-alike in the first and third pictures are different. Does anyone know what the bumblebee look-alike is?

I’ll leave you with this last picture – my favorite in this series