Lily blossom undergoing pollenation... natural wonder in action!

A friend who lives on the Potomac River (in Fort Washington, MD) hosted a party today... this is a close-up of one of the lovely lilies currently blooming in his garden.

Fly making his rounds... Pollen Collecting!

Continuing with posts... photo taken June 19, 2009.

This flower (blossom is about 40 cm in diameter) is Helenium "Mardi Gras" and is currently blooming in my garden. Once it starts to bloom, it will bloom all summer long, providing pollen for many insects and amusement for this photographer. The tiny fly was quite literally making the rounds gathering pollen... I watched him go completely around the blossom gathering pollen from each of the tiny anthers as he went.

Sweat bee? Fly? Iridescent pollen gatherer on Yarrow...

Am posting several photos today now that I've worked out how to get them incorporated without artifacts... cannot seem to do that without adding the photo to a Picasa album first (using "Blog this" link from Flickr sends photos over the wrong size for my blog and adjusting sizes introduces artifacts.) Please also note that I'm using the large size photo from my Picasa album so if you are viewing this blog on a small screen, you may not see the full image without scrolling... check to see that you see the tiny black border on all four sides and enjoy!

During a break in the rain on June 18, 2009, I wandered down the street to see what wondrous things I could find in my neighboring gardens... who needs an arboretum when one is lucky enough to live in a neighborhood filled with gardens! Caught this guy scoring some pollen and then he flitted away...