The upright prairie coneflower is also commonly referred to as mexican hat or long-head coneflower. It is scientifically referred to as Ratibida columnifera. The species name columnifera means column, as these flowers have long, cylindrical center disks. Prairie coneflowers belong to the Asteraceae family (which you tell as it has a center disk made up of many individual flowers growing together) and is found throughout North America, from Canada to Mexico. It can be found and is native in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan.

To identify the prairie coneflower look for a tall center cone (2 inches) surrounded by 3 to 11 drooping yellow petals that each contain a notch at their ends. The flowers are found at the end of an erect stem that can be up to 3 feet tall. The leaves are pinnately lobed, with each leaf having 5 to 11 lobed. The leaves are blue-green in colour. The prairie cornflower typically grows in groups of itself.

In Calgary it blooms in the late summer. Prairie coneflowers can be planted in the fall or in the spring if they have undergone stratified cold treatment. They are drought tolerant and prefer sunny and dry conditions.

The bright yellow colour is attractive to pollinators including skippers, checkered beetles, miner bees, bumblebees, honey bees and other bees. In addition to the benefits for pollinators, the prairie coneflowers also have medicinal benefits. The medicinal benefits include treating poison ivy rashes, headaches, stomach aches and fevers. It has also been used to extract snake poison by the Cheyenne, who boiled the leaves and stems then applied the solution to the bite.

Hummingbird moths belong to the genus Hemaris, with their common name coming from their ability to mimic hummingbirds. Hummingbird clearwings are active during the day like hummingbirds, which is rare among members of the sphinx moth family (Sphingidae). Furthermore, the range of hummingbird moths and hummingbirds is similar. They both hover above flowers to feed on nectar, either using their long proboscis or beak to reach nectar that is typically inaccessible to other pollinators. They can both hover due to beating their wings incredibly fast: a hummingbird averages 50 beats per second and a hummingbird moth averages 85 beats per second. They even produce a humming sound.

Hummingbird moths also mimic the appearance of hummingbirds, which often gets them mistaken for hummingbirds. They have large bodies that tend to be, at least in part, red-brown in colour. They have clear wings with red-brown borders and veins. The males also use hairs to mimic the flared tails of hovering hummingbirds. However, hummingbird moths are much smaller, at about 1-1/2” long.

There are two species of hummingbird moths commonly found in Alberta, the hummingbird clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). Hummingbird clearwings have a red-brown abdomen and pale legs, whereas snowberry clearwings normally have yellow and black colouration with black legs and a black line running down their sides and eyes.

To reproduce, the females will release a pheromone that attracts the males. The females will then lay small, round, green eggs on the underside of leaves of the plants that the larvae feed on. These plants include honeysuckle, snowberry, hawthorns, cherries and plums, and European cranberry bush. The larvae are yellowish green with a tail spike. They pupate in a thin cocoon in the leaf litter. They overwinter in this stage and emerge as butterflies in the spring. Depending on the conditions, hummingbird moths may produce two or one brood per year. In warmer conditions they produce two broods from March to June then August to October, while there is only one brood in the colder conditions of the north, which occurs from April to August.

To attract these native pollinators into your yard try planting phlox, beebalm, honeysuckle, verbena, lilac, and snowberries. These are some of the flowers that hummingbird moths are attracted to. Also, avoid raking your leaves in the fall as this will kill any individuals overwintering in your yard.

A snowberry clearwing is pictured here.