![]() I plan to pick some of the leaves growing on “dirt” Burnell this spring and steaming them to eat with aioli, that is unless one of you readers beats me to the harvest. The website has several recipes for the preparation of Cardoon, including a dish called bagna cauda that translates loosely to “hot bath” and involves spearing and cooking cubes of beef and other vegetables in hot oil in a manner similar to fondue. The more feasible part of the plant to eat though is the midrib of the leaf that tastes much like the traditional artichoke. The buds are much smaller than traditional artichokes, though they can be prepared in a similar manner before they open. Here is an excerpt of a piece we wrote on the cardoon in the Mount Washington Homeowners Alliance newsletter in January 2010: “Perhaps a better and tastier way to control the population of the Cardoon is to eat it. These large thistles have a reputation as invasive exotic plants that compromise our native habitat, but like so many problematic species, they have some endearing qualities, including that they are edible. Here in Los Angeles, we see them on cardoon or wild artichoke, Cynara cardunculus. ” Alas BugGuide does not indicate which flowers will attract the Metallic Sweat Bees. BugGuide indicates that “Adults found on flowers” and they eat “Pollen and nectar and aphid’s honeydew. Thank you so much for your passionate and complimentary letter. BugGuide also indicates that it is difficult to differentiate between the three genera Ausochlora, Augochlorella and Augochloropsis. ![]() We matched your bee to a photo on BugGuide. This is a Metallic Sweat Bee, probably in the genus Augochlorini, though the family Halictidae is quite confusing for us. This site is in my top 10 favorite sites ever! Maybe if I plant their favorite flowers they’ll stick around! Could you please tell me what kind of bee this is? I’d love to see more of them in my garden. Then I thought maybe it was an Orchid Bee, but I didn’t think they came as far north as Charlotte, NC. At first I thought it was a Green Metallic Bee, but it didn’t look exactly like one. It was beautiful and I just had to find out what kind it was. This little green bee was crawling on a lighter on my table one day. ![]() ![]() I love your site! I can finally ask someone about the critters I’ve been photographing in my yard. ![]()
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