What's Blooming: June 2026

Welcome back to our Native Pollinator Garden blog!

The garden kept me busy throughout June. I worked on more invasive species removal (same species I mentioned in May’s blog post), supported three events in the garden, performed a little bit of carpentry, and installed some plant ID signage.

We began collecting seeds from the Red Columbine and False Dandelion, as their blooming season is just about over in the garden!

Also, quite a bit bloomed this month! The bounty of blossoms brought a noticeable increase in diversity of pollinators to the garden.

Want to see a native surprise? Read to the bottom of the page to see a special four-legged garden guest!

June in the Garden

Here’s what bloomed in June:

Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
Cylindrical Thimbleweed (Anemone cylindrica)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens)

Early Purple Coneflower Bloom in June 2026

Purple Coneflower turned Purple

Lanceleaf Tickseed in June 2026

Anemone Plant in June 2026

Black Eyed Susans in June 2026

Culver's Root in June 2026

First False Sunflower Bloom in June 2026

Hoary Puccoon in June 2026

New Plant Signage

When you’re perusing the garden, stop and smell the flowers, but also stop and read our plant ID signage! Most of the flowering plants now have signage — take some time to grow your plant ID skills!

Welcome to the Bug Buffet

Grow it, and they will come!

The pollinators were even busier than I was this month.

From spiders and bumblebee-eating dragonflies to hummingbirds and butterflies, way more than bees showed up and out to feast on native plants.

Our special guest, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, liked to stop by the Foxglove Beardtongue throughout the month as the Red Columbine slowly went to seed. You can see the tiny bird in this slowed-down video I took one day in the garden.

Want to see more pollinators on flowers? Check out the below photo gallery to get a closer look at some really neat bugs that buzzed through the garden in June.

Fork Tailed Katydid on False Dandelion

Twice-stabbed Stink Bug on Red Columbine

Striped Lynx Spider on Black Eyed Susan

Silver Spotted Skipper on Phlox

Great Spangled Fritillary on First Milkweed Bloom in June 2026

Grey Hooded Owlet Moth Caterpillar on Fleabane in June 2026

Helmeted Squash Bug on Coreopsis

Little Glassy Winged Skipper on Purple Coneflower

Tan Crab Spider Eats Milkweed Beetle

The Very Hungry Longhorn Milkweed Beetles

Feather-legged Scoliid Wasp on Coreopsis

One day while surveying the plants, a huge bug with great wings soared past my face and landed on the lower stem of a Red Columbine flower.

Carefully, I stepped closer to the flower and crouched to get a better look. I couldn’t believe my eyes — a large dragonfly was eating a bumblebee!

This dragonfly is a Common Green Darner. They migrate from the north to the south just like birds. It perched there for at least 15 minutes, munching on the head of another pollinator.

As Em always says, this is truly a bug buffet!

Bringing People Together in the Garden

We’re always working to bring new folks into the garden. Below are a few ways we did that in June!

Native Container Gardening Workshop:
On June 6, we hosted about a dozen folks for a free Native Container Gardening Workshop. Save the Dunes purchased native plants from Bernacchi’s Oak Valley Greenhouses in La Porte. If you’re looking for native plants grown with pollinators in mind, this is a great place to purchase plants if you’re in the area! Participants walked away with a deep pot filled with a variety of native plants and had the opportunity to ask local Master Gardeners questions about maintaining their container garden.

Michigan City Garden Tour & Save the Dunes’ 74th Anniversary Celebration:
The day before the Summer Solstice, we gathered people from across the Midwest for a Michigan City Garden Tour! Our caravan of folks started at the Friendship Botanic Gardens and ended at the Barker House for a tour of our native pollinator garden followed by a celebration of Save the Dunes’ 74th anniversary. Stops between included the Wabash Street native rain gardens and bioswales (funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative) near the outlet mall and a stunning native garden created by a local homeowner and poet laureate during the pandemic. It was a perfect day for a stroll through the city to learn about native gardening and to celebrate 74 years of conservation advocacy!

Closing the Door On Deer

In addition to improving my plant and pollinator ID, I also added a new skill to my toolbox: carpentry. I learned how to build a gate for easier entry into the garden!

Before, anyone who entered the garden had to untie a bit of fencing from around the post and re-tie it to the other side of the fence. That can be a barrier to entry for some folks.

Now, all you have to do is unbolt the top and the bottom latches (we chose two for extra protection on high-intensity wind days), open the gate, and step through to enjoy!

The Special Four-Legged Critter

Thanks for making it this far! I promised I’d share a neat garden guest that I happened upon the last week of June.

Our new friend is none other than the Eastern Box Turtle!

While moving the logs pictured to the left, I spotted someone staring right back at me. I left the rest of the logs so he wouldn’t be disturbed, and dug up a worm to share with him. He devoured it quick!

I hope you’ll stop by the garden in July to come say hi to this friendly turtle and I!