The WFSU Ecology Blog
  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • Observations From the Field
      • White Pelicans Visit Dr. Charles L. Evans Pond in Tallahassee
      • An April Walk at Ochlockonee River WMA
      • Nesting Raptors at Honeymoon Island State Park
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • In Their Words: Black Legacy Communities in North Florida
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Aucilla/ Wacissa Watershed
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
        • The Age of Nature Screening & Discussion | The Future of the Apalachicola
        • Apalachicola River and Bay
        • Apalachicola RiverTrek | Kayaking, Camping, & Hiking the River Basin
    • Longleaf Pine & Fire Ecology
  • Backyard Habitat
    • Backyard Blog
      • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Ecology Blog | 2021
      • Backyard Blog November/ December 2020
      • Backyard Blog September/ October 2020
      • July and August 2020 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Blog June 2020
      • Backyard Blog May 2020
      • Backyard Blog April 2020
      • Backyard Blog February and March 2020
      • Backyard Blog January 2020
      • Backyard Blog October through December 2019
      • Backyard Blog September 2019
      • Backyard Blog August 2019
      • Backyard Blog July 2019
      • Backyard Blog June 2019
      • Backyard Blog May 2019
      • Backyard Blog April 2019
      • Backyard Blog March 2019
      • Backyard Blog February 2019
      • Backyard Blog January 2019
      • The Backyard Bug Blog 2018
    • Backyard Flora and Fauna
      • Bees of North Florida and South Georgia
      • The Seasonality of Bees (and Bee Plants) in North Florida
      • Woody Vines of North Florida
      • Flies of North Florida are More Diverse than You’d Think
      • The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants
      • Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?
      • Florida Native Milkweed | Tips for Growing Your Monarch Friendly Garden
      • Mistletoe | A Parasite for the Holidays (But Maybe We Like it Anyway?)
    • Florida Friendly Seasonal Planting Guide
    • Pollinator and Gardening Posts
    • Gardening Web Resources
Kayak and Canoe Adventures
RiverTrek 2021: Five Days on the Apalachicola River
Lower Lake Lafayette: Kayak Tallahassee’s Hidden Swamp
Chipola River Paddling Trail | The Ovens and...
Kayaking Bald Point | Adventure on a Living...
Wacissa Springs Adventure | Kayaking a Wild Florida...
A Geologist’s View of the Apalachicola River |...
Upper Chipola River Kayak Adventure | Ghosts &...
Tate’s Hell & the Apalachicola River Delta |...
Kayak Scouting Mission on the Ochlockonee Water Trail
Merritt’s Mill Pond | Kayaking and Spring Caves

The WFSU Ecology Blog

  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • Observations From the Field
      • White Pelicans Visit Dr. Charles L. Evans Pond in Tallahassee
      • An April Walk at Ochlockonee River WMA
      • Nesting Raptors at Honeymoon Island State Park
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • In Their Words: Black Legacy Communities in North Florida
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Aucilla/ Wacissa Watershed
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
        • The Age of Nature Screening & Discussion | The Future of the Apalachicola
        • Apalachicola River and Bay
        • Apalachicola RiverTrek | Kayaking, Camping, & Hiking the River Basin
    • Longleaf Pine & Fire Ecology
  • Backyard Habitat
    • Backyard Blog
      • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Ecology Blog | 2021
      • Backyard Blog November/ December 2020
      • Backyard Blog September/ October 2020
      • July and August 2020 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Blog June 2020
      • Backyard Blog May 2020
      • Backyard Blog April 2020
      • Backyard Blog February and March 2020
      • Backyard Blog January 2020
      • Backyard Blog October through December 2019
      • Backyard Blog September 2019
      • Backyard Blog August 2019
      • Backyard Blog July 2019
      • Backyard Blog June 2019
      • Backyard Blog May 2019
      • Backyard Blog April 2019
      • Backyard Blog March 2019
      • Backyard Blog February 2019
      • Backyard Blog January 2019
      • The Backyard Bug Blog 2018
    • Backyard Flora and Fauna
      • Bees of North Florida and South Georgia
      • The Seasonality of Bees (and Bee Plants) in North Florida
      • Woody Vines of North Florida
      • Flies of North Florida are More Diverse than You’d Think
      • The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants
      • Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?
      • Florida Native Milkweed | Tips for Growing Your Monarch Friendly Garden
      • Mistletoe | A Parasite for the Holidays (But Maybe We Like it Anyway?)
    • Florida Friendly Seasonal Planting Guide
    • Pollinator and Gardening Posts
    • Gardening Web Resources
Category:

Pollinators and Gardening

American lady on laurel cherry flowers.

Here we’ve gathered stories on pollinators, both in our yards and in our wild spaces.  Our area is a stronghold for species that are otherwise rare in the southeast, and we travel to meet those.  But we spend a lot of time exploring our home space; raising butterflies, recognizing bees and other beneficial insects (and “pests”) in our home ecosystems, and creating a landscape to attract wildlife.

Check out our Backyard Blog, where we explore the wildlife and plants of Ecology Producer Rob Diaz de Villegas’s yard.  It’s not a big space, but you’d be surprised at the diversity of life there.

  • In the GardenPollinators and Gardening

    My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas December 29, 2022
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas December 29, 2022

    A year of life and death struggles, mating, caterpillars, and several new pollinator visitors to the yard of WFSU’s Ecology producer.

  • In the GardenPollinators and GardeningWildlife in North Florida- Critters Big and Small

    The strange and dangerous love lives of zebra longwing butterflies

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas September 28, 2022
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas September 28, 2022

    Witness how zebra longwing caterpillars go crazy for passionvine, and how, as butterflies, go crazy for each other when it’s time to mate.

  • In the GardenPollinators and GardeningWildlife in North Florida- Critters Big and Small

    Want to See the Gulf Fritillary Life Cycle? Plant Passionflower!

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas August 22, 2022
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas August 22, 2022

    Watch the gulf fritillary life cycle- mating, egg laying, every caterpillar stage, making a chrysalis, and finally, an adult.

  • In the GardenPollinators and Gardening

    30+ Bee Friendly Plants for Your North Florida Garden

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas February 3, 2022
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas February 3, 2022

    A bee garden is more than wildflowers – though they are important. To attract wild, native bees, trees and shrubs are also key.

  • In the GardenPollinators and GardeningWildlife in North Florida- Critters Big and Small

    Help Nesting Bees By Learning to Love Dead Plants and Bare Soil

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas October 12, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas October 12, 2021

    We don’t see many bees during the winter months, but this is when we can help them by making sure our yards provide nesting habitat.

  • In the GardenPollinators and Gardening

    Monarch Predators Revisited: A Beneficial Insect is a Beneficial Insect

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas September 9, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas September 9, 2021

    The question isn’t “how can we protect monarch caterpillars,” but “should we?” Recent research suggests a hands-off approach.

  • In the GardenPlants- From Wildflowers to Longleaf PinePollinators and Gardening

    Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas July 23, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas July 23, 2021

    Some people are turned off by its thorns or its tendency to spread, but, as we see, pollinators go crazy for devil’s walkingstick.

  • Farms and AgricultureIn the GardenThe Red Hills of Florida & Georgia

    Composting in Tallahassee | Building Soil in the Red Hills and Sandhills

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas April 8, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas April 8, 2021

    Turkey Hill Farm and the UF/ IFAS Leon County Extension share how they build healthy soil with compost in Tallahassee, Florida.

  • In the GardenThe Red Hills of Florida & Georgia

    Native Soils of Tallahassee: Red Hills, Sandhills, and Ancient Oceans

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas March 18, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas March 18, 2021

    We dig holes with the UF/IFAS Leon County Extension, learning about the soils of Tallahassee, from the Red Hills to the sandhills.

  • In the GardenPlants- From Wildflowers to Longleaf PinePollinators and Gardening

    The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants

    by Rob Diaz de Villegas January 4, 2021
    by Rob Diaz de Villegas January 4, 2021

    Many of the weeds growing in your yard are native plants with wildlife value. We share tips for identifying species and deciding whether to keep them.

Newer Posts
Older Posts

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive more outdoor adventures, and an in depth look at our local forests and waterways by Email.

If you do not receive a verification e-mail, check your spam folder.

Category

WFSU-FM Environmental Stories

  • Tallahassee’s latest urban reforestation effort brings new trees to Governor’s Park
  • Hurricane Ian’s estimated damage to Florida agriculture tops $1B
  • America’s largest underground springs gets even bigger with the discovery of another cave connection
  • DeSantis outlines second-term environmental plans
  • Deep freeze breaks pipes, creates water crisis across South

Twitter

Tweets by wfsuIGOR

iNaturalist

iNaturalist became a part of the WFSU Ecology Blog during the EcoCitizen Project in 2019.  Since then, we’ve used it to help identify the many plants and animals we see on our shoots.  And on the Backyard Blog, we show how it can be used to identify weeds and garden insects, to help figure out what’s beneficial or a possible pest.  Below is the iNaturalist profile belonging to WFSU Ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas.

iNaturalist


View robdv’s observations »

Most Recent

  • The Wakulla Springs Wildlife Survey- a decades long look
  • Welcome Liesel Hamilton to the WFSU Ecology Blog!
  • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
  • Timberlane Ravine: learn to love dead trees (and trillium!)
  • The strange and dangerous love lives of zebra longwing butterflies

Archives

March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Jan    

WFSU Ecology YouTube

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • Youtube

@2017 - PenciDesign. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign