Bumblebee Landscape and Garden Design

@bumblebeelandscape.bsky.social

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Bumblebee Landscape and Garden Design is a one-woman operation focused on helping Marylanders and Northern Virginians turn their yards, patios, and balconies in urban & suburban areas into beautiful wildlife-friendly oases. bumblebeelandscapeandgarden.com

Photo of a chunk of dirt shoveled out of a lawn, grass growing out of the top. The top third of the soil is subtly darker, the rest pale and dry. It's more obvious in person- I had to fiddle with camera settings to capture the difference.
Photo of a Passiflora incarnata bloom with a small fly pretending to be a bee resting on one of the wiry tendrils.
Photo of a slightly oval green fruit hanging below large 3-lobed leaves. The vibe is crawling across the grass so the whole photo is just different shades of green.
Photo of a young robin in the head, facing the right. There are lots of dark speckled on its red breast, and white on the neck under the beak and along what would be where the neck meets the shoulder in human anatomy.
Profile view of an upside down bumblebee clinging to the drooping flower of a fleabane.
Photo of a carpenter bee on a pale purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) bloom. The native range of Passiflora incarnata in the Mid-Atlantic is disputed. It's definitely native to the Southeastern portion of the US, and some sources say it's native as far north as Pennsylvania while others contend that only Passiflora lutea (yellow passionflower) is native to the Mid-Atlantic.
Photo of an orange plant growing right up against a beige shingled house. Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed or butterfly milkweed are the common names.
A bumble bee with a black thorax that has a brown stripe under a yellow stripe at the point where it meets the abdomen is head first in a bright yellow blossom, which is a part of a collection of similar blossoms on an erect stem. The flowers look like those of many legumes- sweet pea being thr one most people are most familiar with.
Photo of small round red berries growing on twiggy branches skin small blade like leaves. The blurry trunk the smaller branches are growing from is dark grey, but it's covered with tiny white scale insects' tests. Tests are the waxy coverings the scale insects armor themselves in so they can't be easily dislodged from the plant they feed on.
A photo of the front yard of a brick house. There is a small hill topped with a maple tree, and beneath is is a sea of green plants of varying textures - mainly Pachysandra terminalis, with a Helleborus spp and some non-native Irises on the right. On the left, next to a walkway, is a Rudbeckia, I think R. hirta but maybe R. fulgida. Along the front edge of the hill is a stretch of Liriope spicata.
Photo of a small bee that looks like it's wearing a short fur stole abc has a black abdomen demurely obscured by iridescent wings standing on a catalogthat is resting on the black mailbox door. In the bottom right of frame, you can see the room of a tea cotta pot and the leaves of a willow oak seedling that I really need to pull growing next to the house.
Photo of a flower garden with a beige house behind it. In thr back corner is an out of focus fringetree in bloom, splice of bright green and white. Just to thr right of center is the bluestar, with slender needle-like leaves abc clusters of light blue star shaped flowers. Beneath that is the Baptisia, with cramp l creamy pale yellow blonde arching out over the geranium, 5 portal pink flowers among deeply lobed leaves.
Photo of a mass of green leaves dotted with bright yellow florets.
Photo of a small tree that is just leafing out and flowering at the same time, so it is a very vivid yellow green with yellow-y looking splotches of flowers.
A small ocean of purple flowers violets, likely Viola sororia. There are a few sprigs of ground ivy poke up in there, too. (another puple-blossomed groundcover, though not a native one, and it has much smaller flowers).
Photo of a broadleaf shrub that has mostly been revealed from under the cover of Japanese honeysuckle.
Photo of a large mound of Japanese honeysuckle growing over... something.
Photo of a bunch of low-to-the-ground leafy plants, with dried brown stems from thr previous year obscuring them.
A banner image with the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional logo (the letters CBLP in green superimposed over a green and blue stylized leaf) and the text CHESAPEAKE BAY Landscape Professional to the right of the logo in san serif font. Chesapeake Bay is in blue and all caps, landscape professional is in black and standard case.
Photo of a fraternal potter wasp on the florets of a Golden Alexander plant.
Photo of an Eastern carpenter bee dwarfing the many small, white, daisy-like blossoms of an aster plant.
Photo of a brownish grasshopper with red legs on the fuzzy reddish stem of a boneset plant.
Photo of a black wasp with a couple yellow spots and two yellow stripes on some boneset, a plant that blooms zillions of small white blossoms similar to blue mistflower blossoms.
A drawing of a pelican as though floating on the water with its mouth open. Handwritten text reads, "pelican Mouth perfect size for put baby in to sleep soundly put baby in Pelican Mouth. no problems ever in pelican mouth because good Shape and Support for baby neck weak of big baby head. A pelican mouth yes a place for a baby put baby in in pelican mouth can trust pelican for giving good love to baby".
Photo of 2 books on a formica table. One is called Invasive Plants and one is called Phyto.
A photo of a male carpenter bee (note the yellow square on the face and larger eyes) on the back of a female carpenter bee. When they fly, they remain together just like this.
Photo of a truly bizarre looking purple flower. It has a layer of wide, thumb-shaped petals in pale purple or white, with a number of stringy coils called the corona. On this flower, they're white at the very base, then dark purple and white in a ring around the stamens and pistils, then pale purple from there to the ends. At the center is of the flower are the stamens and pistils. The stamens are arranged like a 5 pointed star, with wide anthers at the ends to distribute pollen. The stamen is yellow with dark brownish-red speckles and the anthers are a buttery yellow. In the very center are the pistils. There are 3 of them, and they receive the pollen from other plants and fuses it with the egg, forming a seed.
Photo of a large pink tropical-looking flower with a dark pink center and pale yellow stamen. On the stamen in profile is a bee that resembles a bumblebee, Ptilothrix bombiformus. It has a dark abdomen, yellow thorax, and a little yellow fuzz on the face. The wings are dark but transparent.
Photo of blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum. The flower is a pale lilac color that looks a bit like a cluster of fuzzballs. The leaves are bright green and have serrated edges.
Photo of a male tiger swallowtail butterfly nectaring at a blossom of my Monarda dydma 'Raspberry Wine' cultivar. It must be very tasty because he gave no fucks about how close I got to him with my phone.
Photo of a yellow fly with clear and gray wings on the dirt covered arm of a white person.
Photo of magenta flowers amongst greenery with rain drops on the leaves. These are Monarda didyma "Raspberry Wine" I think? I bought them ages ago before I had a much knowledge as I do now.
Photo of porcelainberry vines in front of a beige shed. 5 or 6 spotted lanternfly nymphs are visible on the closest vine and almost twice a many on vines in the background. The vine leaves are heart shaped with serrated edges. Spotted lanternfly nymphs are the size of a pencil eraser or smaller, black with white spots, though those details aren't clear in the photo.
Photo of a small poison ivy plant growing among dead reeds. It's about 3 feet tall with only a few branches of leaves. The leaves are mostly smooth edged.
Photo of plant tag labeled "Brown-Eyed Susan".
A stand of Joe Pye Weed in a garden near a teal yard chair. It's about 3 feet tall (Before pic).
Photo of a white person's hand holding a cluster of berries attached to a tree. 3 of the berries are smallish and red, but one is much bigger, green, and bumpy.
Photo of a cluster of small berries on a branch. The rope ones are pickish red and the unripe ones are light green with red tips.
Close up photo of a plant with a long cone-shaped bud cluster, yellow flowers peeking out of the lowest buds. In the background you can see a dozen or so light purple and white flowers. Side from the flowers there is a lot of green in the background.
Photo of a fox vixen and her 3 kits on the lawn by the shed in my backyard.
Photo of a wet, smiling white woman in sunglasses wrapped in a towel with a riverbank behind her. She just jumped in the very cold river and is drying off in the wind.
Photo of a sandy garden bed with a number of plants and 2 great blue heron statues, taken from the side.
Photo of backyard storage area. Two large flagstone tiles surrounded by gravel are on the ground, house siding to the right and wooden fencing behind and to the left. On those tiles are a covered charcoal grill and a garbage bin, all tucked tidily away.
Photo of a plant with very thin leaves and clusters of blue star- shaped flowers being pollinated by a small bumblebee who has already gathered a LOT of pollen.
Photo of a poison ivy-covered tree in front of a marsh.
Photo of a single stem of lyreleaf sage (Salvia lyrata). It has tiny pink bell shaped flowers. In the background is wire grass growing on the beach, a river and cloudy blue sky.
Photo of a large multiflora rose next to and climbing up a tree, at least 8 feet high. Another invasive, English ivy, is also climbing a tree in the photo.
Photo of honey locust blossoms and the compound leaves surrounding them.
Photo of several stems of lyreleaf sage, with tiny pink bell- shaped flowers. In the background are violet leaves and turf grass
Photo of a bright green tree with white blossoms that appear more like they're a yellow-green color when photographed with the leaves, as in this photo.
Before photo of the front porch bed. There are 3 yew bushes in the back, a Japanese maple in the middle, and another yew bush in front of it.
Photo of a bunch of Zizea plants. They have lacy green leaves and yellow blossoms that are corsica l collections of smaller florets.
Side view of a mound of dried clay amid turf grass.
A photo of several windblown white flowers with green- yellow centers growing on a small tree branch.
Photo of field pansies. Small violet-like flowers with white petals that get more purple at the edges and a yellow center.
Photo of a spurred butterfly pea vine in flower. The blossoms look a bit like pink butterflies.
Screenshot of the Merlin app sound identification screen. Dated 2025-04-01 22:19 in Maryland, it shows a visual representation of the bird song recorded and a suggestion of the bird ID. The only suggestion is the barred owl. Beneath the suggestion is a list of barred owl song clips you can hear in the app.
Photo of a small purple violet flower.
Photo of a copy of Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States by Tony Dove and Ginger Woolridge. It is a large black hardcover book, and at the top it reads in a pink serif font and all caps "The guide to creating a sustainable landscape." Beneath that is a photo of a country lane lined with oaks and dogwood. The title, in the same font and style but white text on a black background, stretches across the cover. Beneath the title are 3 photos of native plants and trees: a locust tree in the fall, with brilliant red leaves; a close up of fothergilla blooms; adhd a redbud tree in bloom. In the same text style and color as the top text, the authors' names are centered beneath those photos.
Photo of hairy bittercress in bloom. It is a clumping plant with compound-style leaves with lobed leaflets, slender stems that grow several inches above the leaves, and small white flowers.