Collards in flower

Have you ever bought some bok choy and left it in the fridge while you figured out what to do with it until it opened up bright yellow flowers? That’s why my collard plants did, only six feet tall. Tall, outspread candelabrae of flat yellow flowers just begging for big fat bees. It’s covered in […]

Leafcutters?

I do believe the leafcutter bees are active. When I leaned closer to admire all the blueberry blossoms, I spotted this precise little circle cut. It’s a good sign for blueberries, as leafcutter bees are good berry pollinators. And I saw similar signs last year, but I haven’t quite spotted the bees themselves yet.

Bee v. Bee

There’s a big, fat bee that likes to hover over the patio controlling the territory. He looks like a large bumblebee, but the white spot on its face and shiny butt mark him out as a male Carpenter bee. I’ve been buzzed a few times passing through. Lucky for me, I’m not another bee.

Bees of Spring

There’s a fairly bare, hard-packed stretch of dry soil that serves as a path up the hill in my yard, where I often see little brown bees zooming back and forth close to the ground. This year I finally slowed down enough to get some pictures. And I found a whole community of bees.

Feed your bees

A very nice article I read today confirms something I observed last year: native pollinators prefer native flowers. Since there’s so many different kinds, from bees to syrphid flies, you need many different flowers over the course of the seasons to feed them. You can find lists of suggested plants, but the easy way is […]

First day of spring

Whereas I saw a honeybee today, as it cruised along checking out the crocuses;

Sunflowers keep on giving

I come to praise my sunflowers, not to pull them up and compost them. When they were blooming, the sunflowers offered pollen to the bees. When they were dying, seeds to the goldfinches. The plants have finished dying and dried up, but they’re not done.

California goldenrod

While out in my old stomping ground, I also visited the Old Mission Dam. It was built in the early 19th century by the Indians and monks of Mission San Diego de Alcala to create a steady water supply from the San Diego river. Now it’s a quiet little park. There were ducks on the […]

Desert Broom

I’m back. I spent a few days in San Diego visiting family, traipsing about, and of course–bee hunting. Are you surprised? The first place I found bees was on this trail to Cowles Mountain. It’s not exactly Everest, but I grew up just down the hill from here, and the silhouette of that peak haunts […]

Still Buzzing

Things are getting ratty looking in the garden, but the heart-leaved aster is still hosting a buzzapalooza every day. I wish I could get some pictures that conveyed just how many bees are all over. There must be a dozen bees just on one plant. Plus an Eastern carpenter bee showed up the other day. […]