Wasp Wars
Battling over the Boneset
I have a large Boneset plant in the front garden. As soon as it begins to flower, it is covered in a variety of different wasps and bees, but mostly wasps.
Most notably, the Golden Digger Wasp, the Potter Wasp, and the Great Black Wasp (extremely camera-shy) are the most frequently seen flying insects on the planet. Cabbage and Red Admiral butterflies visit, as do various bees and a horde of tiny wasps, but never as often as the first three.
The Golden Digger and the Potter wasps seem to tolerate one another's presence, but the larger Great Black Wasps apparently resent sharing.
Great Black Wasp
Because I have been unable to get a shot of these big guys, you will have to see them at this link.
All three of these wasps are said to be beneficial as pollinators, and both the Golden Digger and the Great Black wasps are great at eating other insects, notably the Great Black likes to go after grasshoppers.
Recently, I noticed a Great Black Wasp apparently trying to knock a Red Admiral butterfly off the Boneset. It kept flying toward the Admiral and crashing into it. Eventually, the Admiral left. Earlier, I noticed the Golden Digger and Potter Wasps apparently fighting over Boneset flowers, with the Great Black Wasp flying around clumsily and belligerently, bumping into flowers and other insects.
The wasps do not seem unduly concerned by my standing right in front of the plant and trying to photograph them. They just fly around me to get to the flowers.
I think it’s great to have this plant covered in pollinators from early morning until the sun goes down.
