Karen Wils photo A black swallow tail butterfly ready to fly off into the wonderful U.P. garden.

ESCANABA — Welcome August, the month of bumble bees, butterflies, big flowers and ripe berries.

The goldenrods and Queen Anne’s lace dance like showgirls in the spotlight of the sun.

The whole wild and wonderful Upper Michigan world is an overgrown garden. And what would a garden be like without butterflies and bees?

Besides their beauty, these winged wonders are necessary for pollination.

If we want apples, berries, veggies and cherries, we need insects to help to fertilize blossoms and make fruit and vegetables grow.

The news media is filled with information about the plummeting populations of native bees and butterflies.

It’s no joke.

For over fifty years I’ve been traveling in the same circles taking pictures of butterflies and bees.

As early as March when melting snow lingers, the rusty brown and spotted mourning cloak butterfly is flitting around in the cool air. I am there with my winter coat and gloves snapping pictures.

Then comes the spring azures as blue as the sky and tiny and dainty. White cabbage moths, viceroys, monarchs, skippers, luna moths, white admirals and painted ladies all follow in succession throughout the summer.

In the heat and humidity of August, in a fragrant herb garden, the dill caterpillar munches and grows. After he morphs, he takes wing as the beautiful black swallowtail butterfly. He’s my favorite.

These are only a few of the types of butterflies and moths that brighten up the U.P. summer days.

This year I have seen a record low number of these winged wonders. A few decades ago, I photographed dozens of kinds of butterflies in one month and made them into a framed collage.

This season, I would be hard pressed to show a variety of butterfly photos. Even though I grow a lot of flowers, milkweed, butterfly bush, dill and keep a pretty large garden, every year I have fewer butterfly and bee visitors.

From what I read some of the reasons for the decline are pesticide spraying, climate change, light pollution and loss of habitat and host plants.

I so remember the excitement of watching caterpillars transform into cocoons or chrysalises and then seeing then emerge as butterflies. They slowly fan their wings and fly off into Upper Michigan’s gorgeous garden.

Now we have bee houses and butterfly houses, and we strive to save wild and tame plants to attract pollinators.

I hope your August is filled with busy bees and beautiful butterflies — and the harvest is good.