Julie the ok gardener
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juliejam.bsky.social
Julie the ok gardener
@juliejam.bsky.social
3.1K followers 3K following 1K posts
Gardener and reader interested in Oklahoma native plants and the bugs that live with them. I live in the northern Cross Timbers ecoregion, USDA zone 7B.
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juliejam.bsky.social
Getting started on my winter sowing in containers. Until I finish, here's a #fallback from July 2 for #Fridayflowers. #nativeplants🌱 #gardening
A gold skipper butterfly with its tongue stickig out in a little coil is perched on the edge of a purple flower cluster of Dakota Mock Vervain/Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida). A flower border along a fence with lots of pink and magenta Swamp Rose Mallows blooming, along with yellow Black-eyed Susans. Hibiscus moscheutos and Rudbeckia hirta. A flowerbed full of orange Butterflyweed, purple Lemon Bee Balm and yellow Clasping Coneflowers, in front of the other end of the same border with white and pink hibiscus. Asclepias tuberosa, Monarda citriodora and Dracopis amplexicaulis. Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a, July 2, 2025.
January 2, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Julie the ok gardener
kellyhoffman.bsky.social
Butterflies I raised from eggs on host plants in 2025. Best butterfly season I’ve ever had!
Male black swallowtail, variegated fritillary, male monarch, buckeye, female spicebush swallowtail, female gulf fritillary, and female black swallowtail.
January 1, 2026 at 2:49 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
Happy New Year! 2025 was a shitty year in most ways, but it was a good year for butterflies. These guys (and you guys!) saved me from total despair. I hope you all will fortify yourselves against 2026 by planting more native plants: nativeplantfinder.nwf.org xerces.org/pollinator-c...
#butterflies
A collage of fourteen butterflies from my 2025 garden, top to bottom in three columns: Common Buckeye, American Lady, Pipevine Swallowtail, Cloudless Sulphur, Variegated Fritillary, Common Checkered-Skipper, Pearl Crescent. 2. Diana Fritillary, Giant Swallowtail, Red-spotted Purple, Gulf Fritillary. 3. Monarch, Queen, Question Mark butterfly. Northern Cross Timbers ecoregion 29a, 2025.
January 1, 2026 at 3:15 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
Birds, bugs, fish, whatever. Let’s see some #NewYearsEveIridescence 🌿

Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor.

#invertebrates #butterflies #lepidoptera
A rather petite black Pipevine swallowtail butterfly perches on a thistle flower, showing off the beautiful iridescent lower wings with bands of indigo and peacock blue dotted with orange spots.
January 1, 2026 at 4:51 AM
juliejam.bsky.social
Birds, bugs, fish, whatever. Let’s see some #NewYearsEveIridescence 🌿

Mottled Tortoise Beetle, Deloyala guttata.

#invertebrates #beetles
A tiny Mottled Tortoise Beetle, with a round transparent shell decorated with a black butterfly-shaped design with bright coppery-gold iridescent spots. When the light hits right, they look like little red LED lights.
January 1, 2026 at 4:42 AM
juliejam.bsky.social
Birds, bugs, fish, whatever. Let’s see some #NewYearsEveIridescence 🌿

Widow Skimmer, Libellula luctuosa.

#invertebrates #dragonflies
A female Widow Skimmer dragonfly, with transparent black-banded wings shimmering with gold dust iridescence.
January 1, 2026 at 4:30 AM
juliejam.bsky.social
Birds, bugs, fish, whatever. Let’s see some #NewYearsEveIridescence 🌿
Red-spotted Purple, Limenitis arthemis.
#butterflies #invertebrates #lepidoptera
A large black butterfly with beautiful aquamarine blue iridescence on its wings.
January 1, 2026 at 4:22 AM
juliejam.bsky.social
For my winter sowing, I had planned not to buy any native plant seeds and just use the seeds I gathered, but I changed my mind. These are all plants I've tried and failed to start before, so I decided to give them another try. More in alt text. #nativeplants #wintersowing 🌱 #gardening
Four packets of seeds: Leavenworth's Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) and Spider Milkweed (Asclepias viridis--which I usually call Green Milkweed) from Buffalo Seed Co. in Kansas. American basketflower (Plectocephalus syn. Centaurea americana) and Standing Cypress from Understory Garden in Texas. I couldn't find Oklahoma collected seeds but I'm hoping the Kansas ones in particular do better here than previous batches from Texas. I think the weather here might have been too cold and rainy for them. I couldn't find Kansas seeds for the others. I just sowed some in the flower beds and saved some for the containers I will start this week.
December 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
Happy Holidays from the ok pets: Ella, Enzo, Frankie, Patch, Pierre and Mia. #Christmas #cats #dogs 🐶🐱
A collage of my pets: Ella, a brown tabby cat with white bib and socks under the Christmas tree. Enzo, an orange tabby, face sticking out of the tree. Frankie the husky, grinning in front of the tree, blocking the picture I was trying to take of Ella. Patch the yellow lab in his Official Cookie Taster gingerbread man t-shirt. Pierre, a gray longhair cat lounging in front of the tree. Mia, a brown tabby, about to start biting some red snowflake ornaments that Mom stuck in her face for no apparent reason when she was trying to take a nap.
December 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
A bumblebee taking a break to clean up on a Swamp Rose Mallow last summer for #magentamonday. #fallbackflowers #fallback to June 22. #bees #nativeplants
A male bumblebee covered in pollen clings to the tip of a large deep pink flower bud of Hibiscus moscheutos with his wings standing out. He has scattered pollen all down the side of the bud, which is tightly furled, and has a row of long, narrow pointed sepals coming from the stem, surrounding the bottom like a cage. The background is an old wooden fence. June 2025, Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
December 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
For #SixonSaturday, six pollinators on Perfumeballs, since I'm waiting for colder weather to do my winter sowing. We might see 80°F for Christmas! This little cutie is native to Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and it blooms all summer. Gaillardia suavis. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱 🦋🐝 #insects
Six pollinators on Gaillardia suavis, from left to right: Yellow-collared Scape Moth (Cisseps fulvicollis), Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), Orange Epipagis Moth (Epipagis fenestralis), Halictus Furrow Bee, Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus), and a garden scene with Perfumeballs. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
December 20, 2025 at 3:08 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
There's a reason they call it Bee Balm. Brown-belted Bumblebee sleeping on Monarda citriodora. #fallbackflowers #fallback to June 18. #bumblebees #bees #nativeplants #insectthursday 🌱
December 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
#Fallback to June 17, a Snowberry Clearwing Moth. They are currently in cocoons under the leaf litter around their favorite host plants, Snowberry and Coralberry shrubs (Symphoricarpos) and honeysuckle (Lonicera). Hemaris diffinis. #moths #lepidoptera #fallbackflowers #gardening #nativeplants
A Snowberry Clearwing moth hovers next to lavender bee balm (Monarda citriodora) flowers. The moth has a wide, flattened body that ends in two short fan tails that look like the fins of a shrimp, giving it the nickname flying shrimp. It has wide bands of black and gold fur that resemble a bumblebee's coloring and a white face with a black stripe across the eye. The wings are clear with brown borders, and are mostly invisible in this picture because they are vibrating so quickly, like a hummingbirds wings. The legs and antennae are black. Hemaris diffinis. Another picture of the Snowberry Clearwing moth that shows a little of the wing borders. They really love the bee balm and Dakota Mock Vervain in my garden. Seeds of this plant can be started in the spring or fall. The Snowberry Clearwing moth seen from the front, peeking over a bee balm flower with its tongue in the flower. Other potential host plants for the caterpillars are viburnum, plums, cherries and hawthorns. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
December 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
Garden update: I started digging this island for native plants last February, but I had a lupus flare and had to stop digging before I finished. Then summer happened and things got a little wild, but I'm finally digging out again. Slowly. Gotta make room for my new seeds. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
This is my little island in May when I had to stop digging. It is an unfinished oval with one long side still growing grass and a janky-looking little wire fence with too-tall fence posts. Also, there is a little clump of knee-high volunteer plants in that grass, a Tall thistle and a black eyed Susan and a bee balm. I left them on purpose, which was probably a bad idea. Also, I left another random thistle, which is at the bottom of the picture. August: the thistle at the back of the bed is now about 7 feet tall, but you can't see it because it is totally engulfed in flowering passion vines which have crept over from.the nearby fence border and covered the little fence around the bed. There is also a Swamp Rose Mallow blooming back there that I didn't plant. The natives I actually planted are still in there, though. November: The vines are starting to die. The thistle has collapsed under the vines. (The passion vines were later joined by cypress vines, which are a total pain.) Looking pretty skanky, to be honest. Today: the vines are gone, for now at least. I have started digging the grass up to complete the oval. I hope to finish digging and plant seeds here in the next few weeks. Then at some point before spring I will have to bury edging around the whole thing to keep out bermuda grass.
December 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Julie the ok gardener
stateofstlouis.bsky.social
2 pm Tomorrow, Saturday, Dec 13th, St. Louis County Library event at Lewis & Clark Branch

The Art of Caring for Carnivorous Plants 🌱

presented by St. Louis Carnivorous Plant Society

Register www.slcl.org/events/art-c...
a close up of a plant with a lot of water drops on it .
Alt: Carnivorous plant eating an insect
media.tenor.com
December 13, 2025 at 12:48 AM
juliejam.bsky.social
I donated some native plant seeds to the public library last month, but their seeds were all veggies and I'm afraid they will languish amongst the curcurbits. So, I thought I'd post them just in case anyone local is following me. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
A flyer advertising the seed library at the Sapulpa Public Library. If you have a card, you can borrow seeds and return more later. They keep them in a box at the front desk. Their number is 918-224-5624 and email SAPULPALIBRARY@gmail.com, in case you want to make sure there hasn't been a run on native plant seeds since I left them. (They are closed for maintenance today. ) The seeds I donated: Symphyotrichum lanceolatum, Conoclinium coelestinum (both local ecotypes), Dracopis amplexicaulis, Liatris pycnostachya, Gaillardia suavis, Callirhoe bushii (purchased out of state seeds). Also Penstemon murrayanus, which is not local to this county, so should only be planted in gardens, not naturalized.
December 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
These moths only like my petunias, so I looked up the native plants they like and top was Evening Primroses. Then I looked up this mystery plant (on Seek) in my island bed, and it says it is an Evening Primrose. We'll see! White-lined Sphinx Moth, Hyles lineata. #mothmonday #nativeplants #moths 🌱
A White-lined Sphinx moth hovers in front of a pale lavender petunia flower. It is a large-bodied moth with distinct black, white, pink and gray decoration that looks like a woven design on the body. The top wings are decorated like black leaves with white veins, and the lower wings are pink. The background is an old gray board of a raised bed. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a. A large plant rosette growing in a bed mulched with straw. It has long pointed leaves that are lightly scalloped on the edges with light veins. I think it is an Evening Primrose, but I'm not sure what species.
December 8, 2025 at 2:38 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
This year, I have (mostly unintentionally) practiced the Underpants Gnomes Theory of wildlife gardening:
Step 1: Acquire native plants
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit!*
But seriously, it works. (Photos from August 26.) #nativeplants #insects #underpantsgnomes
*Profit = bugs. A collage of 14 insects, because that is all that will fit on one collage: Gray Hairstreak butterfly, American Bumblebee, American Lady butterfly, Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Monarch butterfly, Snowberry Clearwing moth, Silver-spotted Skipper, Northern Plushback Fly, Honeybee, Yellow-collared Scape Moth, Pearl Crescent butterfly, Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Bush Cicada. August 26, 2025, Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
December 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
A Margined Calligrapher Fly from June for #flyday. Toxomerus marginatus. #EastCoastKin #gardening #insects 🌱🪰
A Margined Calligrapher Fly rests on the tip of a green leaf that is covered in wispy white hairs. It is a pretty little fly with transparent wings with a sparkly green and pink iridescence. It has big dark-red eyes, a bronze shield covering the thorax, and its abdomen is a golden orange with narrow black stripes that curve up at the edges like brackets. The Margined Calligrapher Fly sitting on the dark center of a golden yellow Black-eyed Susan flower. You can see the tiny brown-black threadlike flowers and uniform dots of yellow pollen of the flower's center. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a, June 6, 2025.
December 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
My garden from June 2nd for #fallbackflowers. I'm trying to get motivated to clear out some weedy areas so I can sow more seeds right in the ground this winter. Those did better for me last year than the seeds in containers. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
A garden bed with lots of green foliage and flowers starting to bloom in spring. There are yellow Clasping Coneflowers (Dracopis amplexicaulis), purple Lemon Bee Balm (Monarda citriodora), orange Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), magenta Annual Winecups (Callirhoe leiocarpa), and red Murray's Penstemon (Penstemon murrayanus). Against the background fence are non-native blue cornflowers, and a Tall Thistle (Cirsium altissimum) and Swamp Rose Mallows (Hibiscus moscheutos) that are not in bloom yet. June 2, 2025. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
December 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Julie the ok gardener
melissagiragrant.com
@katelynburns.com: "The student's mom... is a former Springfield, MO city council member who faced a recall campaign in 2017 before resigning in late 2018. She's a conservative attorney who sued several cities in 2020 seeking to overturn local mask mandates and went on to defend several J6ers."
That Viral Essay Scandal is (SURPRISE!) Actually About Trans People
A shoddy Oklahoma University essay went viral. Cis people think this is about conservatives whining for better grades. Trans people see a planned attack on a trans academic. (Note for free subscriber...
www.burnsnotice.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
Good morning. It's very soggy and gray in my garden today, so here are some friends from Summer. #Saturdayorange #butterflies #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
A large orange Monarch butterfly sits on orange milkweed flowers with a tiny orange Pearl Crescent right below him. Both butterflies have their wings open, slightly touching. August 26, 2025, Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
November 29, 2025 at 2:25 PM
juliejam.bsky.social
A Northern Plushback Fly on Bitter Sneezeweed for #flyday. This syrphid flower fly is found in a large area from the East Coast to Texas and is common in aquatic environments where the larvae can develop in standing water. Palpada vinetorum. #insects #flies #EastCoastKin #nativeplants 🪰
A Northern Plushback Fly feeding on a bright yellow flower of Bitter Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum). The fly is angled, partly facing the camera, which shows its white face and one huge dark maroon-black oval eye, and its body colored gold and black similarly to a honeybee. The fly seen from the back. The scutum, a shield-shaped area on the thorax, is black with three wide distinctive bands of olive-gray that meet around the edges and is tipped at the bottom with a semicircular gold-orange scutellum right above the clear wings. The black abdomen has two large oval patches of golden orange on either side with three slender white stripes below them, across the pointed end of the abdomen. From August 2025, Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.
November 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Julie the ok gardener
fedtfupofthemall.bsky.social
#oklahoma www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-...
ICE detains University of Oklahoma professor with H-1B visa, colleague says
The professor was detained on his way to an academic conference in Washington DC.
www.newsweek.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Julie the ok gardener
rutgerbregman.com
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM