Abundant pollinators and blooms were found in a recent visit to Oudolf Garden in Detroit. Since my post last year, we’ve visited a few times and the garden is really starting to fill in to fulfill its ambition to show something different with every visit throughout the year. It is a welcome sight given the recent news of the Monarch butterfly being added to the IUCN Red List as endangered, and general insect declines everywhere. We need more places like this – it is clear they are taking advantage of it, including a couple Monarchs flying around.
There is a psychological harmony to this place despite being relatively small in size (about 3 acres) on this 982-acre island in the Detroit River. Even so, it holds so much to explore in detail, patterns, and complimentary elements. One can imagine Monet wanting to spend some time here.
It also felt nice exposing some pixels again in what has been a really slow year for me getting out to explore new things. I must mention they’ve done a really nice job with their companion website. Throughout the garden are QR codes that take you to the plants you are looking at for that bed, complete with audio of the pronunciation for those a little rusty on their Latin [raising hand]. Of course, any animal life is up to you to figure out if a helpful volunteer isn’t nearby.
This happened to me for a species of dragonfly I hadn’t seen before – a Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina). Until I was able to identify it later at home with a closer look at the photos – it was simply the “orange/copper dragonfly.” As you can see from the image, the coloration really catches your eye. Appropriate to their name, I managed to photograph one exhibiting their perching “pennant” behavior on some stalks (which I was not able to identify).
Honestly, I thought this was just general dragonfly behavior – as this is how I see many of them – perching. This led me to learn many are called “pennants” relating to this pose – about 8 species in total according to one reference. I suppose that reveals how much I know about dragonflies. They aren’t just a bunch of choreography-stealing copycats of the Halloween Pennant, though I remain suspicious.
There’s always homework
This visit to Oudolf Detroit was similar to many of my wanderings in nature – always returning with some self-assigned homework. Like the dragonfly, the globe-shaped flowers in the featured image of this post, or even the surrounding grasses to the Cardinal flowers (the flowers I knew!) – I am usually looking up something for keywording or captions.
This may trigger going down some rabbit holes because I ultimately ask myself – wait, don’t all dragonflies do this? Or I learn that Gold Dew Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’) is a native, wet-soil-loving species, making it a nice biological complement, in addition to a visual one, to cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) in a rain garden.
So I get sidetracked a lot developing photos from any particular day just in the process of learning more about what I have. It draws down my “throughput” for sure. But I am usually rewarded with a bit more knowledge than I had before making the photo, even if I struggle to retain a lot of it.
The Oudolf Garden in Detroit is one of those places – you leave a little richer than before your visit, even if you have homework assignments.
Featured Image at top: Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera) on Summer Beauty (Allium lusitanicum), Oudolf Garden Detroit, Michigan
This would be a place I’d be visiting on regular basis. Since, it is a long drive for me I will have to depend on your upcoming images and reports. I also have those times where I get so involved in the research that the processing slides to the side, until later. This was not the case when I first began nature photography, I was only interested in the image. Getting older and asking more questions about what I’m seeing has changed that. I just did some of that research on a dragonfly I see here at my ponds. It’s really interesting what scientists are able to discover and share with us. So, much of nature I need to learn.
Yes, it would be a bit of a drive Monte LOL. I wish I could retain more of what I learn about – I keep trying, sometimes just the discovery is just as enjoyable as Lynn pointed out.
Lovely photographs.
Looks like this is really a great place to visit. Inspiring to photograph. And an inspiring place to learn!
Indeed it is!
The honeybee on the Allium is a beauty, Mark. What a treat this garden must be, even given its small size. Piet Oudolf was popular when I was maintaining perennial gardens for a living back in the 90s. His vision is a lasting one. Thanks to his emphasis on native plants, grasses, etc., the pollinators are happy. I learned something – pennant dragonflies, cool. The research wormhole happens to me all the time and if I don’t remember what I read, at least I had a good time. Such an enjoyable post, Mark.
Well, I hope his vision endures in Detroit. It seems like it is a big volunteer effort that can be fleeting with some projects. Thanks for stopping by and the kind words Lynn.