Goldenrod

The late-season blooms of goldenrod attract a plethora of pollinators including flies. The convergence of pollinators also attracts a range of predators that make a living on these beneficial insects. Nature doesn’t play favorites.

I'm an unabashed fan of common goldenrod (a.k.a. Canada goldenrod). Its flowers are an important late-season food source for pollinators drawing in a wide range of insects and their yellowish to gold-tone makes a nice photo backdrop. In fact, this native perennial offers a pollinator photo op paradise.

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is in full bloom throughout the state.  Soldier beetles (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus, family Cantharidae) and locust borer adults (Megacyllene robiniae, family Cerambycidae) are commonly found on the flowers of this beautiful native plant adding to the plant's interest to entomophiles.

A number of interesting plant galls look so much like fungal structures that for years they were misidentified as a fungal plant disease.  Such is the case with the goldenrod leaf galls associated with the midge fly, Asteromyia carbonifera.