Squash flowers and squash bees

I "surprised" a number of bees this morning in flowers of my vining Tromboncino squash, a Cucurbita moschata cultivar. I vaguely recalled that squash had specialist bees, and had fun finding out more about them. Early in the morning is when squash bees visit flowers (these actually looked like they spent the night). Squash bees are native bees that specialize in flowers of Cucurbita plants -- zucchini, winter squash, pumpkins, etc. They forage early in the morning, collecting nectar and pollen from both the male and female flowers.

Tromboncino squash vines

Tromboncino squash are really amazing. I first tried them as a squash vine borer-resistant zucchini-like squash. Here in SC, my yellow squash and zucchini efforts have resulted in only a few fruits before the vines succumb to borers. But Tromboncino squash are tough customers-- a different species than zucchini and yellow squash, and hailing from Italy and the Mediterranean (they're actually related to winter squash, Cucurbita moschata 'Tromba d'Albenga'), they grow robust, sprawling vines that root at the nodes, and their stems are borer-resistant. Unfortunately, in the satellite garden, where I've had two years of rampant vine growth (and abundant squash production), the hungry woodchucks have been nibbling any plants I put out there to the ground. So I transplanted some fresh seedlings from my main vegetable garden, and have been training the vines on the fence.

Notice the growth in the transplanted vine along the fence in the picture above!

Midsummer

Several good thunderstorms have helped the garden tremendously. We still need more, as we're behind over 10 inches this year already, but everything is looking green and lush. The view from my study window is striking right now- the purple phlox is looking great. The yellow on the right is the Threadleaf coreopis just starting to flower.






The society garlic (Tulberghia) in the garden shed border is flowering nicely, and the sage and anise hyssop that replaced the kale makes a nice contrast to the rest of the greys, greens, and purples.






The view from the sink at the kitchen window is nice right now; the beans and cucumbers on the trellises are growing well, and a couple of tomatoes are ripening.












The tromboncino squash rescued from the woodchucks in the satellite garden is attractive on the fence. Maybe it will produce some squash!