Stephanie is taking a break from writing this week to focus on unpacking shipments for her Christmas Shop.  She asked me to write about something summery to balance out all the snowmen and nutcrackers that are filling our warehouse.

The end of summer is such an amazing time in the garden if you are interested in the little creatures. We have a huge planting of very tall sunflowers here at the garden center, and they are just beginning to bloom. It seems like each one has four or five baby bumblebees on the flower, and meanwhile, the skippers and butterflies are visiting our Pollinator Garden.  At home, I've finally got hummingbirds--they are fueling up to prepare for their long flight south for the winter. (My neighbor has had them all summer. I finally noticed when I was changing the solution on my feeder that I had neglected to remove the protective seal between the reservoir and the outlet. No wonder it never went down. Oops.)
 

I guess I'm noticing the flying things more this year because we've spent the summer installing a couple of new gardens at Behnke's--a rain garden and a pollinator garden--plus an insect hotel, a honeybee hive, and all sorts of other things.  Food and shelter to make life easier for the birds and the bees.  Every few days I'm out in the garden with my camera, clicking away at an array of bees and butterflies enjoying the early morning floral buffet.  Stephanie has photos of her grandson Aaron; I have photos of Milkweed Bugs, orange aphids and Joe Pye Weed.
 

Meanwhile, if you're interested in learning more about how to get rebates on storm water control projects at your home or business located in Prince George's County, through the Rain Check Rebate Program--projects such as installing rain gardens, removing asphalt, or adding rain barrels to your home--we have examples of those here, too. Click here to read all about our various environmental projects.

Stop by, cameras are always welcomed.  You never can tell what you may see flying around the garden center.


-Larry Hurley, Behnke Horticulturist