First Blooms for Operation Pollinator 2013!

The Operation Pollinator plots are up an running!  I am very relieved--I thought that our long winter and cold spring had truly wiped them out.

The very first blooms up this year are from Eastern Columbine.  Lovely foliage, unique flowers, and the first red bloom I've seen in Operation Pollinator.

The bergamot continues to look great.  I think this could be this hardy plant's big year!

A few other plants that I don't remember from last year, but which don't look particularly weedy to me:

If anyone has any guesses on these plants, I'd appreciate the ID help!

Weeds in the Operation Pollinator Plots

A few weeks of warm weather have sped up the development of the OP plots.  I'm hoping to have at least a few blooming species within the next month, but for now the only things blooming out there are weeds.

You've probably seen the purple field invasion in the last few weeks.  These pictures aren't from my plots, but from a nearby fallow field.  Here's the purple painted culprit:

Purple deadnettle.  Sounds like a good name for a metal band.  According to the internet, you can eat this stuff!

Another likely suspect for the purple fields is henbit.  This weed can be a major problem in turf systems:

I've also seen quite a few violets in my plots.  This weed is very persistent, so I hope my plants start to crowd it out soon:

Finally, there are a handful of what I think is field pennycress.  Can anyone give me a positive ID on this plant?

And then there are these beasts.  These jerks really were in my plots.  You can see the bergamot foliage in the background.

Interestingly, there are many, many more dandelions in my control plots than in the other three wildflower mixes.

A good sign?  Another good sign is that the bergamot is coming on really nicely, even in sites that were struggling last year, like this one:

Can't wait until we start to see blooms!

Golf Course Management Features Operation Pollinator!

I am a very, very lucky entomologist, folks.  Golf Course Management, a trade journal published by the United States Golf Association, featured an article I wrote about Operation Pollinator.

This is big, big news for me, because every registered golf course superintendent in the US is subscribed to GCM.  That's about 16,000 people.  We've been getting some really positive feedback, and it feels fabulous.

Here's the link:  http://gcmdigital.gcsaa.org/i/118283/112

Yay!

Springtime for Operation Pollinator

We've had a very long winter here in Kentucky.  It's been chilly and wet all year, but we're finally starting to get some warm springtime weather!

This time last week, we had two straight days of snow.  Later this week we're supposed to have several days above 60F. I'm not going to question it.

The springtime weather drove me out to my Operation Pollinator plots to see how things were progressing.  It was wishful thinking on my part, but I hope to see some more recognizable wildflowers coming up in the next few weeks.

Currently, Operation Pollinator is looking pretty bedraggled and grassy.  There were only two plants that I thought might be early wildflowers coming up.

Does anyone know what this is?  Might be early bergamot coming up.  It looks mint-y to me.

This stuff was also coming up.  Lance-leaf coreopsis?  Might also be plantain or sorrel.

I've got my hopes up for more wildflowers showing up soon.  Can't wait to share all my new Operation Pollinator adventures!