Zinnia elegans (Common zinnia) and Lucilia sericata (Common Green Bottle fly)
“Help me. Help me.”
Fans of vintage science fiction movies will immediately recognize this famous line from the 1958 classic, The Fly, staring Vincent Price. Unfortunately, flies, like weeds, have rather unsavory reputations (“Harbingers of filth and disease.” as Mrs. Flowerishness likes to intone).
However, flies have their place in nature and adult Green Bottles flies enjoy a varied diet and in addition to (admittedly) carrion and feces, they also eat nectar and pollen and are valuable pollinators. The Common Green Bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, is found all over the world and chances are, if you have a pink zinnia growing in your garden, then this fly and your flower are well known to each other.
