You're looking for input - what is your question?

If you're looking for commentary, I'll bite. I don't see any decline in pollinators here (northern VA east of the mountains, central mid-atlantic).
We had a ridiculously mild winter. Our Spring was not staged blooming as is normal, literally everything bloomed at once - forsythia to early azalea, dogwood, redbud, maple, oaks, fruit trees, clover - everything happened all at once. We've had one of the hottest summers on record.

I've seen, and every day even now am seeing a LOT of butterflies this summer; the big colorful ones, monarchs, others (that to my uneducated eye seem similar to monarchs), hummers, flies, bees, wasps, hornets, little flying things in general, bugs & beetles with no end. The birds are having a feast.
Right now it's "chewing insect" season, and my trees & shrubs reflect that (new house, we've only planted 3 little cherry trees this spring, and just what I've noticed in the woods). My tomatoes dutifully have hornworm damage - I picked them off, carrying them a safe distance but so they could live to be tobacco moths. But based on the bird activity, I believe they will benefit the soil as crow poop this year, LOL.

This is our first year in the house, and my Home is about 300 miles from here, so while I"m not sure what "normal" is for this exact location, I have a pretty good idea. Seems normal to me here.

Life is a cycle. Everything goes in & out, up & down - that's life. We were all begat with in & out motion. In the 1970's, they were predicting the next ice age and we were all gonna die - of course humans were responsible, ton of new stupid regulations put in place with an excuse to raise taxes in the foray. Now they say the world is gonna melt, flood, and we're all gonna die - of course, humans responsible, useless legislation passed, and our taxes are raised. It's all natural cyclic activity for which control freak political types try feebly to retain some appearance of control to keep themselves in power. In 10 years, NONE of it will matter. They're teaching our children (if I had any) to not think, be dependent, and ignore History, so it surely will repeat itself poorly.

Bet you have an amazing insect yard next year.

You're looking for input - what is your question?

If you're looking for commentary, I'll bite. I don't see any decline in pollinators here (northern VA east of the mountains, central mid-atlantic).
We had a ridiculously mild winter. Our Spring was not staged blooming as is normal, literally everything bloomed at once - forsythia to early azalea, dogwood, redbud, maple, oaks, fruit trees, clover - everything happened all at once. We've had one of the hottest summers on record.

I've seen, and every day even now am seeing a LOT of butterflies this summer; the big colorful ones, monarchs, others (that to my uneducated eye seem similar to monarchs), hummers, flies, bees, wasps, hornets, little flying things in general, bugs & beetles with no end. The birds are having a feast.
Right now it's "chewing insect" season, and my trees & shrubs reflect that (new house, we've only planted 3 little cherry trees this spring, and just what I've noticed in the woods). My tomatoes dutifully have hornworm damage - I picked them off, carrying them a safe distance but so they could live to be tobacco moths. But based on the bird activity, I believe they will benefit the soil as crow poop this year, LOL.

This is our first year in the house, and my Home is about 300 miles from here, so while I"m not sure what "normal" is for this exact location, I have a pretty good idea. Seems normal to me here.

Life is a cycle. Everything goes in & out, up & down - that's life. We were all begat with in & out motion. In the 1970's, they were predicting the next ice age and we were all gonna die - of course humans were responsible, ton of new stupid regulations put in place with an excuse to raise taxes in the foray. Now they say the world is gonna melt, flood, and we're all gonna die - of course, humans responsible, useless legislation passed, and our taxes are raised. It's all natural cyclic activity for which control freak political types try feebly to retain some appearance of control to keep themselves in power. In 10 years, NONE of it will matter. They're teaching our children (if I had any) to not think, be dependent, and ignore History, so it surely will repeat itself poorly.

Bet you have an amazing insect yard next year.

You're looking for input - what is your question?

If you're looking for commentary, I'll bite. I don't see any decline in pollinators here (northern VA east of the mountains, central mid-atlantic).
We had a ridiculously mild winter. Our Spring was not staged blooming as is normal, literally everything bloomed at once - forsythia to early azalea, dogwood, redbud, maple, oaks, fruit trees, clover - everything happened all at once. We've had one of the hottest summers on record.

I've seen, and every day even now am seeing a LOT of butterflies this summer; the big colorful ones, monarchs, others (that to my uneducated eye seem similar to monarchs), hummers, flies, bees, wasps, hornets, little flying things in general, bugs & beetles with no end. The birds are having a feast.
Right now it's "chewing insect" season, and my trees & shrubs reflect that (new house, we've only planted 3 little cherry trees this spring, and just what I've noticed in the woods). My tomatoes dutifully have hornworm damage - I picked them off, carrying them a safe distance but so they could live to be tobacco moths. But based on the bird activity, I believe they will benefit the soil as crow poop this year, LOL.

This is our first year in the house, and my Home is about 300 miles from here, so while I"m not sure what "normal" is for this exact location, I have a pretty good idea. Seems normal to me here.

Life is a cycle. Everything goes in & out, up & down - that's life. We were all begat with in & out motion. In the 1970's, they were predicting the next ice age and we were all gonna die - of course humans were responsible, ton of new stupid regulations put in place with an excuse to raise taxes in the foray. Now they say the world is gonna melt, flood, and we're all gonna die - of course, humans responsible, useless legislation passed, and our taxes are raised. It's all natural cyclic activity for which control freak political types try feebly to retain some appearance of control to keep themselves in power. In 10 years, NONE of it will matter. They're teaching our children (if I had any) to not think, be dependent, and ignore History, so it surely will repeat itself poorly.

Bet you have an amazing insect yard next year.