Back at school with temperatures almost 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, so I ventured into the garden. My eye was drawn to the wonderful contrast of yellow and black between this creature and his landing pad. I loved the way he seemed to be trying to haul himself onto the flower and not quite making it. I'm afraid I can't give you the name of either the bug or the flower, but I'll bet someone will know. @olivetreeann , are you there?
Well, here I am finally! I looked through my books and I can't give you a conclusive identification because I can't see the leaves on the plant and I can't see if the abdomen on the insect has a marking or not- but here are your options. The plant looks like an Alium- which comes in all colors (most seem to be purple/pink) and has the same type of flower as this one- smaller stems spreading out from a central one with blossoms on the end OR it could be Golden Alexanders which also looks similar to this and is yellow. You can learn more about Aliums in Wikipedia- they don't seem to be considered a "wildflower". Golden Alexanders are a wildflower and according to Audubon they like meadows, shores, moist woods and thickets. They have flat-topped clusters of small bright yellow flowers, the middle flower of each umbrel being stalkless. They are in the parsnip family. The leaves are twice divided, about 3-7" long, pointed and toothed. The insect is either a Blue-black Spider Wasp (which has a red spot on the abdomen) or a Steel Blue Cricket Hunter (which does not). The picture of this wasp appears to be the best match to yours, but since I can't see the abdomen, I'm not 100% sure if that's it. But maybe you remember whether it did or not. Boy you really do send me on these fact-finding missions!! I have fun looking this stuff up- I wish I was better at it!
@olivetreeann You are a wonder! I wish my students were as quick to respond and as motivated in their quest for knowledge! I wish I could tell you about the wasp's abdomen but I confess, I didn't make any effort to turn him over or peek underneath so that will remain a mystery. About the plant. I will try to find time to slip back to the garden tomorrow and check out the leaves. I will let you know what I discover. I will also see if our science teacher/master gardener is in town and ask her if she knows what is planted in that bed. I'll get back to you!
@allie912 lol I don't think I'd be turning a wasp over to check its abdomen either! But Kimmi is more of an expert on these things and her thought on its identity seems to lean toward the direction of both of those names. You can google all of them to find pictures on the internet. Sometimes you can make a match that way too. As for the plant, if it's not a wildflower bed, I'd say it's the Alium (which was my first thought, but I hadn't seen them in yellow before. The flowering heads really look like those in your picture.)
@karenann@maggie2@kimmistephens@Weezilou@melissapike@bkbinthecity@mrssmith@cimes1@olivetreeann Here's what my resident expert emailed me:
"The plant is dill, if it is what I'm thinking of...rub the leaves and see if it doesn't smell like it. Makes hundreds of seeds- feel free to collect them if you see some heads that are at that stage. Annual, but reseeds itself freely. "
I did go out in the garden this morning and rub the plant and it does smell like dill. I'll post a picture later of the feathery leaves. She didn't know what the insect was.
"The plant is dill, if it is what I'm thinking of...rub the leaves and see if it doesn't smell like it. Makes hundreds of seeds- feel free to collect them if you see some heads that are at that stage. Annual, but reseeds itself freely. "
I did go out in the garden this morning and rub the plant and it does smell like dill. I'll post a picture later of the feathery leaves. She didn't know what the insect was.