The last of the monarchs are still passing through. Without a hard freeze, there is still nectar to be found and my garden is a good source, I have seen more in October than all the rest of the year.
One of the monarchs favorites is Mexican flame vine, found in Mexico but also native to the south and northern parts of South America, it produces floppy stems and is considered a vine. I originally knew it as Senecio confusus, which translates to a confused senecio. To realign, the name was changed to Pseudogynoxys chenopodiodes, which means; looks like it belongs in the genus Gynoxys (all from South America and in the aster family) and resembles a goose foot. In searching for Mexican geese (in an attempt to understand the epithet), surprisingly even our Canadian geese will overwinter in northern regions of Mexico as well a few other species of geese, so maybe there is some basis for the species name. Bottom line, the name will probably change again, and DNA test will resolve any relationships, we can hope for a botanical name that's not such a mouthful.
The salvias have also been a hot spot, specifically Salvia leucantha. The species name translates to "white-flowered" but there is a great deal of diversity in the flowers, something hybridizers are searching for. I have a selection called S. 'Phyllis Fancy' which has been going strong for at least 3 months. Before the hummingbirds migrated, this was their primary source for nectar.
There are still zinnias, more salvias, and a third sowing of sunflowers, which are busy with various bees.
PS for some reason my photographs are displayed as half of what they really are, despite the fact that nothing has changed other than my poor internet. I am publishing this post to see how they display when clicked on and am waiting for an answer from Typepad as to what I'm doing wrong. This has been a big part of why there aren't more as this has been very frustrating! Hopefully this will be fixed and refined at a later date.
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