laPALMa HABITAT GARDEN

In the summer of 2025, Julie Lapalme set out to improve her identification skills by learning how to use iNaturalist. She started from her own backyard, a 200 sq.m. space that she had designed as a habitat garden with a small potager. Her goal over the years had been to rewild her yard by shrinking the lawn, establishing native plant communities from seed, and planting fruit trees and shrubs with additional log piles to create habitat. Julie created a project in iNaturalist and then she simply spent that summer living at a slower pace so that she could fully observe the activity in her garden. That experience turned out to be eye-opening as she discovered the various plant-insect relationships in her garden that make up an intricate ecological web.

Native Bees   Hover Flies   Butterflies   Moths

NATIVE BEES

Two-spotted Bumble Bee (Bombus bimaculatus) observed on Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa). (iNaturalist)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) observed on Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana). (iNaturalist)

Brown-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis) observed on Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). (iNaturalist)

Carpenter Bee - Spurred Ceratina (Ceratina calcarata) observed on Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). (iNaturalist)

Sweat Bee - Orange-legged Furrow Bee (Halictus rubicundus) observed on Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). (iNaturalist)

Sweat Bee - Ligated Furrow Bee (Halictus ligatus) observed on Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). (iNaturalist)