Here's a couple shots of stuff that 'anchors' the corners of my (messy) gardens. Pay no attention to the lack of mowing on this particular day: "Red Prince" Weigela: To the right there's an "Alfredo" bush in this shot This one is just various tall 'stuff' like bee balm, milkweed, and phlox...probably not what you're looking for... To the far right in each of these pictures, you'll see a Ninebark (the dark brown shrubby thing)... ...and this one has the Spirea way in the back right corner Another shrub is this Golden Rose of China bush that in this pic was 3 seasons old (planted mere 'sticks' and it's doing fabulous...have a whole row of them 'guarding' our front property line). May be a little big for what you're looking for, though at I believe 6x6 mature size. I don't have a pic of my dwarf lilac...can't remember if it's a Japanese or Korean one, but it's cute & lovely lavender. Currently checking in at only about 3', and not sure how tall it'll eventually be since again, I'm not sure which nationality it is ;) Maybe some of these helped, maybe not, but figured I'd throw them out there for you.

Hi KR222, thanks for the correction. Sherry, you are right about Asters and button bush. I just concentrated more on flowers for fall and spring because bees need to stock up before the winter and re-stock in the spring. For example, rosemary, lavender are also good sources for bees. I limited the list to the flowers that produce the most nectar and pollen.

"It would help lots if our governments were much more proactive if taking steps to reduce the use of (commercial) pesticides." The tide might be turning, especially with such a strong focus on climate change of late. I'm hesitant to say this, because I know a lot of us are...ahem....not young-uns, but my hope is in the younger generations, the ones now coming up --> they're going to be the ones that fix the cr*ptacular environmental mess my generation and those previous made.

Gosh, you'd think that with that hornet nest being about 15' up in the air that they really wouldn't have bothered attacking you. It seems like that's enough space that they wouldn't feel frightened, but then again, what do I know, I'm not a hornet. Pretty many years ago, I also got zapped by a bald face hornet when I was outside picking raspberries The nest was hanging really close to where I thought they'd be. I was stung plenty of times over the years by yellow jackets, wasps, hornets and maybe even a honey bee one time if I remember correctly. I think that was the time when I was clapping at our dog (many years ago, as I was a kid) and wouldn't you know it, that was just the time when one decided to fly in my bubble and I got zapped. I think the two times when stings hurt the most, though, was when I was zapped by the raspberry patch-living hornet and also two different times when I inadvertently reached right onto a saddleback cat. Ouch, I was surprised that a caterpillar sting could hurt so much. I really intend to use your "tennis racket" zapper method starting next year to "try" to annihilate those doggone European hornet butterfly murderers. Maybe I can also get the population down from a million to half a million like you did. Hey, it's a start anyway. I certainly can understand your saying that because there are sooo many of the potato leafhoppers. I think I remember reading about some bait that a person can put on the lilacs that they're stripping the bark off of and they carry it back to the nest and it also poisons the other hornets, so that's something else I can try. I have to look into exactly what to get. The way I look at it is that they don't belong here, so I don't feel the least bit guilty killing them. It infuriates me when I see them patrolling the butterfly bushes looking for their next victim. I feel better this year than last year and will be taking a much more proactive approach next year to eliminate the invasives, whether it be insect, bird or plant.