I went to the garden to photograph these…
The Queen of the weed world…at least around here it is considered a weed. Not actually by me but by the county extension office.
Anyway these lovely flowers are what had my eye…
I just love the dreamy quality of them!
But when I leaned in, low and behold my flower had a visitor.
At first I was going to shoo him away, and maybe stomp him if I could…
But then I got closer.
And even though I got stung by one of his relatives last week I had to admit he was a kind of interesting…
There he was, just minding his own business…busily getting ready for fall.
The pattern on him is so colorful and so graphic!
I wonder if they are like zebra and no two are marked exactly alike? For such an ornery bug he is actually kind of pretty!
Could yellow jackets ever be considered art?
Guess it is all in how you look at them…
I found a little info on him in my handy dandy insect book…
They are found throughout North America with various species being localized. Adults eat nectar and the larva eat chewed up insects from the adults. Only mated females survive the winter to emerge from the ground to carry on.
They can be pests at picnics and the females will sting at the least provocation…ya think?
Anyway I thought he was rather pretty…until it started dive bombing me,
so I killed him
And before I go…
Peek a Boo!
beautiful!
They don’t last long around here as they seem to constantly raid the beehives this time of year. I sort of look like a piece of art as I dance around stomping them in front of the hives each day…more of an interpretive movement I guess. Anyhow, your pics are awesome…maybe I will take a moment to appreciate them before I smash them next time…
I try to leave them alone as much as possible since they are beneficial predatory insects. They do camp out at the front our beehive and they’re eating all the drones the ladies are kicking out.
If we get a nest in the front yard we usually kill them though, nothing pleasant about mowing over a nest and getting stung 20 times.
Warren my beekeeping hubby will not be happy if he reads this post, he like you sees them an mortal enemies to his hives and enjoys them only in the squished up form! Kim
I think i’m fortunate not to see them often. I’m allergic to bees, so i’ve made the assumption that i’m allergic to wasps, too. Bees don’t bother me. I rarely wear perfume (when i do it is an essential oil) & i’ve learned that if i stand still & don’t bother them, bees don’t bother me. (Stepping on them barefoot is another issue!)
But i imagine that wasps are a different issue as they don’t die from a sting. So i repeat, i’m thankful i rarely/never encounter them.
But thanks for your lovely pics. It is interesting to see them close up.
I currently have a nest at the edge of my garden – sort of in my garden. I’ve been stung twice recently, just minding my own business. (They seem to be more aggressive in late summer than they are earlier in the season.) The conventional wisdom around these parts is to pour kerosene down the hole to get rid of them, but I don’t want to do that since the hole is in a garden bed. Does anyone have an idea of an organic way to get rid of the nest?
Thanks in advance.
By the way, I had some 3 – in – 1 organic spray (primary ingredient neem oil) which didn’t work, so we can rule that out.
It’s too bad the County Extension office doesn’t tell people that Queen Anne’s Lace is indicative of poor, worn out soils or pasture land. The lowly wild carrot is just doing it’s job. But if your extension office is like ours, they don’t know why weeds grow. Sigh.
Bonnie if you put a glass bowl over the top they will not make another entrance will starve to death in their nest. Just make sure that it is at a time when most of them are in there…I have heard that this will work. Good luck! Kim
Absolutely gorgeous photos!
The pictures of the yellow jacket is actually a european paper wasp. They can be told apart with antenna color, yellow jackets have black while paper wasps have orange.
I thought your pictures looked excellent though. Both yellow jackets and wasps are beautiful creatures.
I find these pictures strangely serene!
Though bit by a wasp today and looking for remedies around here, this page zeroed my frustration level….