I got a telescope for christmas that I took a break from for personal reasons but want to get back in it now that we are heading toward a less humid time of year.

Is there an app or blog that you use to keep track of these events? I feel like knowing when certain things are coming up will help me plan a little better.

I live in bortle 7 and I've learned from this spring that bortle 7 and 6 is not dark enough for certain targets with a 4 inch refractor lol. I have access to bortle 5 and 4 areas within an hour and 3 in just above an hour. I would just need to plan going out there in advance, if the weather cooperates.

Anyway, do you guys have any favorites? TIA!

Basically the title. Despite being interested in plants as a teen and trying to germinate exotics under my first grow light, I didn't get into natives until much later...completely on accident.

I stopped growing anything for like 6 years. Climbed out of the hole I was in and felt the itch to watch a plant from seed the first year in mostly shade. I decided on a variety of impatiens and anise hyssop for the pollinators (pretty much randomly decided on this too, just because)

The impatiens didn't like it at all when I didn't water for 2 days and they died. But the hyssop didn't care at all. Over the course of summer I forgot about them a lot, they drooped some but never died in the summer heat in these containers. I was amazed. Some natives are built different!

When they started to flower it was really cool. But when I saw bees and butterflies buzzing those small plants...it just hit different. It really warmed my heart. I was amazed by how many bugs were attracted to otherwise small and unassuming plants. I was just hooked.

It wasn't long afterword that I dug a couple of small beds to experiment with other species. I've learned so much this year from the failures and successes of all this. It really feels like this is going to last a life time for me. Observing the relationships these plants have with their environment is endlessly fascinating. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I rent, so I got a limited space to work with. That said, I counted 12 bees buzzing my 3 anise hyssop plants (Two are 2 years old in the ground, 1 in a container from seed this year) and my (Monarda Citriodora) lemon bee balm! This is the most I have seen in my yard so far!

Walking conservation areas around here I've noticed they show extreme preference toward common milkweed and butterfly weed, and somewhat to nearby mountain mint. I have seen a few buzzing my salvia as well.

What other native species have you seen bees go crazy for?