Best Insects in My Mint Garden

I have five kinds of mint in my little backyard garden. Behold, above, a glass of Mediterranean style lemonade with mint, garnished with a dried lemon slice and fresh mint sprigs. As an added benefit, throughout the summer, whenever I went to pick mint for drinks or tea or decoration, there were insects busy at the flowers. I watched, judged, and photographed.

Here at the end of the growing season, I am bestowing the first ever annual Best-Insect-in-the-Mint-Garden award. This little eastern tailed blue butterfly is the winner! The best mint insect of the summer of 2024! It was a delight to see several of them, none much bigger than an inch across with wings wide open, all flitting from flower to flower at once. Click to enlarge.

In the event that the eastern tailed blue butterfly cannot fulfill its duties, the runner-up, shown here, will step in. Let's hear it for the two-spotted scoliid wasp. Yay!

Here's a photo with different lighting on different flowers. See where it gets its common name?

And an honorable mention goes to this European honey bee for maintaining a dramatic pose while I hovered nearby with my camera pointed at her. Well done, bee, and congratulations to all of this year's mint visitors.