Fwd: Little Helpers
Wendy Nadherny Fachon
Revitalizing Soil Health, Naturally with guest Pat Miletich, Soil Health Advocate and co-founder of Soil Saviors
School garden organizers and agricultural students will find this really interesting!
From: Wendy Nadherny Fachon, Host of the Story Walking Radio Hour <wendynadh...@substack.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Subject: Little Helpers
To: <storywal...@gmail.com>
Yesterday, I noticed Agapostemon virescens visting some Hypericum perforatum. Errr, let me rephrase that, I noticed a female bi-colored sweat bee gathering nectar from St. John’s Wort flowers. This bee’s metallic green head and thorax and its black and white striped abdomen make my identification unmistakable. Zoom in! What a beauty! This solitary bare-ground nesting bee favors flat open flowers, like Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, Sunflower, New England Aster, and St. John’s Wort. I am nerding out with the pollinators in my yard, because this is Pollinator Week. On Tuesday, I popped into Duluth, one of my favorite clothing stores and found a tank top with a milkweed and Monarch butterfly motif… on clearance!… irresistible!…especially since my Common milkweed and Butterfly milkweed are in full bloom. I have yet to see a Monarch, however, the bumblebees and cabbage moths are delirious with delight over milkweed!
On Monday, I studied a fairy-fine plant in my woods I have never noticed before… delicate and airy with long slender stems.. The whorls of four leaves at each node along the stem remind me of pinwheels. At the base of each leaf grows a long thin flower stalk, and the small star-shaped flowers seem to be shooting out from the center of the pinwheels. The brilliant yellow stars have a dark red center and tiny dark red streaks shooting out through each petal… like sparks. Here is what I recorded in my nature journal:
When I photographed the plant, my phone identified it as Whorled Yellow Loosestrife - Lysimachia quadrifolia. My curious mind wondered what kind of insect might pollinate such a small flower. Clearly not a big bumbling bumblebee! I searched for the answer: “What pollinates whorled loosestrife?” The answer was definitive - a species commonly know as loosestrife bees or “oil bees” genus Macropis. The loosestrife bee is a specialized pollinator, which means it has co-evolved to feed on, and pollinate, a limited number of plant species—often just a single plant family or genus. Now here’s the crazy part! Loosetrife flowers do not produce nectar. Loosestrife bees rely on the floral oils and pollen to feed their larvae and to waterproof their underground nests. Shiny black females collect oil from the streaks inside the flowers. They have conspicuously wide hind legs that give the impression of "bell-bottoms." The legs have a white or cream-colored pollen/oil brush. Waterproofing! Monday and Tuesday, 2-3/4 inches of rain fell, after a long dry spell. I have often wondered how ground-nesting bees survive a soaking rain. Here lies the answer for this genus. Other genuses rely on branching tunnel designs to prevent direct flooding, and mother bees seal individual brood cells with a waterproof mixture of saliva and soil. I wonder if there is floral oil in the saliva. Survival! The survival of all higher forms of life depend on plants and on the little helpers we call pollinators. Consider Wild Grape plants, which are pollinated by sweat bees, leafcutter bees, and honey bees to produce grapes. Many species of birds feed on grapes, as do many mammals, including humans. We are all connected. Here is what I recorded about grapes in my nature journal:
Interconnectedness! This morning I observed crawling ants and small flying insects on the milkweed. A messy spider’s web stretched from the central stalk to the undersides of one of the leaves. The placement was strategic, and the spider had ensnared some the less wary pollinators. The web reminded me of the somewhat messy web of life that connects us all. We humans have played our part in messing it up, and I believe, by building awareness, we can unravel the mess. In a moment of awe and wonder, I captured a photo of an iridescent metallic green sweat bee atop an iridescent milkweed leaf. This moment boldly illustrates the connectedness and vibrancy of plant and insect life.
I photographed two more tiny insects feeding on my Coreopsis. Can anyone identify these insects?
There is so much more to investigate, and, this Pollinator Week, I invite you to exercise your curiosity by going out for a slow walk around the yard, the neighborhood, or a nearby park. Look for more “little helpers.” Photograph them, draw them, or write about them. Share what you see on social media. I’d love to see what you find. Circling back the bi-color sweat bee sipping nectar on St. John’s Wort, I wonder what other benefits pollinators derive from flowers besides food. This wild perennial offers medicinal benefits. Herbalists use oil extracted from St. John’s Wort for the following: Mood Support: Ability to balance neurotransmitters like serotonin and manage mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety. Wound Healing & Topical Use: Soothe burns, bruises, varicose veins, and scrapes through topical use. Pain Relief: Ease nerve pain (neuralgia) and sciatica through topical use. Visit my website to access one short audio and one short video about Native Bees, created for kids! https://storywalking.com/bees-weeds-trees-and-seeds/ Adults will enjoy this longer audio that goes more in depth… https://dreamvisions7radio.com/why-raise-native-bees-and-how/ Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
© 2026 Wendy Nadherny Fachon
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