Tiny bees in the raspberries

I wouldn’t be looking forward to so many fruits if it weren’t for the bees. And since National Pollinator Week starts today, it seemed like a good excuse to spend a little time this morning looking for bees. It never ceases to amaze me, how many bees you can find. The big ones buzz pretty […]

It’s time to praise buttercups

It looks like it’s time for my annual post about Creeping Buttercups, or Ranunculus repens. They can really take over the place but there are three reasons why I let them:

Bees fly and bee flies fly too

The fake bees are here, too. Currently I’m seeing fairly big ones, about the size of a honeybee, but their buzz sounds more like a whine. They look just enough like bees to fool you as they stroll around the flowers, but when they land — no way! That’s a fly.

Green bees in the spring sun

I’ve actually been a bit worried about the bees, what with all the grey weather lately. Too cool for most bees to come out. Mostly I’ve seen bumblebees lately. In the last few days, though, the nice and sunny weather is back. I think I’ve seen miner bees. I’ve definitely seen cuckoo bees. Today, I […]

Meanwhile, on the ground

What I consider my ground covers are doing their thing. Since I want the violets where they are, they’re not weeds, they’re wildflowers. The ajuga come from a six pack that I planted years ago, and after much coddling are finally looking good. The strawberries are only a couple years old, and happily spreading. This […]

Bees in the trees

The bees are in the trees, It’s a happy, buzzing breeze, Cause the bees are in the trees, And the pear blossoms are pleased, Down in the earth, up to the leaves, The miner bees are in the trees.

Bees high and low

So the bees flying around the top of the butterfly bush aren’t miner bees after all. The miner bees are somewhere else.

Fun stuff

Today’s “fun” task was to finally tackle our taxes. No, it wasn’t. Today’s fun task was to hack down the deader parts of the butterfly bush, while lots of what sure looked like little reddish brown bees swirled around the dried out buds. Lots of them. I think they’re miner bees, but they didn’t find […]

Bees are up!

First I saw sunlight catching on insects flying over the garden, but I wasn’t sure I saw anything big enough. Then I definitely caught sight of yellow and black stripes. I walked over to the crocuses and heard that old, familar buzz. And there she was, the first bee of the year! She’s definitely a […]

Beer and … Bees?

We had beautiful warm weather for NERAX North, so nice the honeybees were buzzing around these chrysanthemums growing in planters behind the Tap. But two of them weren’t bees.