Plants in Plain Language

@plantsplainlang.bsky.social

61 Followers 73 Following

Dedicated to making plants, gardening, and supporting wildlife accessible to everyone. Also, cool bugs. plantsinplainlanguage.substack.com

yellow and black wasp on light green, velvety foliage. It'sm nectaring on tiny white and purple flowers
Tiny grayish white protrusion from bright red flower ending in lots of tiny little hairlike appendages (like a brush)
black and yellow bumblebee clinging to the underside of a light green leaf. Above it, pink tubular flowers rise into the sky
Huge black wasp with blueblack wings crawlign over tiny white flowers with tinier purple spots
Tiny blush black bee rear end sticking up out of a magenta flower
back of a bumblebee crawling on bright white flowers with brownish yellow tips
Tiny bluish egg-shaped berries (actually cones) on green foliage of eastern red cedar
4 small insects with long proboscises on yellow disc florets, nectaring. They're framed by bright yellow ray florets that end with a couple teeth
Light purple flower with circle of tightly-clustered stamens
Sopping bumblebeeon a green-domed flowerhead with tiny white flowers.
Chaos of tiny purple blooms on short grass stalks.
Black, long fly with a club like tail perched on dried brown seedhead
Two bees, one larger and with a black abdomen, the other a little smaller with light yellow and black abdomen stripes, inside a huge yellow flower.
dragonfly perched on broken stick looking directly at the camera with huge greenish eyes and its wings outstretched
Monarch with its wings spread wide on bright orange flowers of butterfly milkweed. Monarch's black-and-white body is visible at the center of its stained glass window (orange, black, white) wings
yellow and black striped dragonfly perched on a twig above leaf litter and mulch
Orange dragonfly with wings that seem to be lit up with neon orange light perched on a black chain link fence.
Black wasp with blueblack wings appearing to fall backward off a cluster of bright white tiny flowers. foliage is narrow and light green
2 small bees, yewllow and black, foraging in the yellow centers of a strawflower. Around the center are bright red and orange papery bracts.
Small bee whose legs are loaded with powdery yellow pollen. It's crawling over an umbel of tiny white flowers.
Narrow face and black antennae of small, green metallic bee. It's sitting on a green leaf with large-toothed edges
Clustered mountain mint. Tiny white flowers beginning to bloom on green flowerheads. Leaves are a velvety, soft green. A beatle's hanging on beneath one leaf.
brownish gold dragonfly purched on the brown disc floret of black-eyed susan. The yellow ray florets point downward. In the background, foliage and more flowers.
Bumblebee, yellow and black with folded wings, climbing on pink petals of wild bergemot.
Spherical flower buds on red stems. Dark green leaves, slightly cupped upward, nearby.
Dill umbel, made up of lots of little umbels, or umbellets. Each umbellet has the structure of a tiny umbrella. Flowers are still in bud, so you can see the umbellet "skeletons."
bright red tubular flowers with stigmas and styles on the flowerhead of scarlet bee balm. Beneath the flowers are reddish bracts, which are eaf-like and angle downward. More bee balm in the background out of focus
Toad, tan with a white stripe in the middle of its head and blackish gray scales. It's sitting among the stolons of strawberry and cinquefoil. A clover blooms in the foreground
Tiny white flowers open on green flowerhead. The flowerhead is one of two along a long, subtly hairy stem. Green, opposite leaves extend out from beneath the flowerhead.
Bumblebee hovering over light purple flowers, which are arrange all along the stem, each with 2 opposite leaves beneath them
Eye-level view of field of white flowers with 4 or 5 petals and a dense cluster of stamens
Large green leaf with 3 lobes and subtley-toothed edhes. Hand for size comparison--the leaf appears broader and at least as long as the hand.
Insect with long, slender, blue-tipped tail and folded wings sitting on a leaf. Its eyes also appear blue and are set on the sides of its head.
Creamy white flowers with yellow-tipped stamens rising out of green, very subtly serrated leaves.
Red beetle with black spots on a common milkweed infloresence. Only some of the flowers, pinkish white, are open.
Orangey red flowers with flaring, skirtlike petals. Opposite each petal (pointing up) is the “hood,” out of which rises a hooked horn. Gynostegium column in the center.
Flower in the Asteraceae family. Ray florets are orangey-red with bright yellow ray. Disc florets are almost maroon at the edge with a bright yellow center.
Light pink carolina rose with an explosion of stamens at its center
Black firefly with bright yellow around the edges of its wings. It's sitting on a green, toothed strawberry leaflet.
Hairy bee with long black eyes appearing to hug a white flower for deer life. It's probably just resting.
Bumble bee with it’s head buried in a white flower. Dollop of pollen at the top of its hind legs
Dozens of little tiny yellowy balls dangling from the base of green leaves.
Bright green upright-appearing five-sided fruit next to bright red flower hanging down. Yellow anthers protrude from the end of the flower.
Two-spotted bumble bee with its head buried in the pink cupped flower of hairy penstemon
Close view of disc florets in coreopsis. Dark outer ringer, bright yellow inner ring, and a center of unopened florets
Green-striped grasshopper's head and antennae poking out from beneath a clover leaf. The grasshopper blends in with clover foliage.
Dense cluster of white flowers with peppermint-like lines running along their interior
Single yellow lance-leaf coreopsis open among a sea of spherical, unopened flower beds and lance-like foliage
Black beetle with bright yellow markings near its head
Spike of bright purple, bilabiate blooms
Side view of small, metallic bee sitting on a purple iris petal. We can see the greenish black tint of the bee's body.
purple flowers blooming in opposite arrangement along a stem, ridged, square-looking. Leaves are sage leaves (because it's a sage plant!)
brown and gray spider with a large abdomen on the back of a leaf.
Ant butts sticking out of white blueberry blossoms.
Arrowwood viburnum, Viburnum dentatum. Toothed leaves. Flat-topped flower clusters still green (eventually they'll be white)
Small collection of new seedlings with green cotyledons, and one whose seed cap is still stuck on, looking a bit like a duck's bill.
bright red flower with a clutch of yellow anthers dangling from the bottom. More flowers, some unopened, dangle in the background.