Not a bee, but an amazing simulacrum!

There’s a ton of native asters that are hard to distinguish, as I discovered after spending easily a confused hour pondering my wildflower book. I finally decided that it’s Heart-Leaved Aster overflowing in my back yard with huge plumes of pale lavender-to-white flowers feeding lots of happy bees. Except one of them is a syrphid […]

Do Bees Sleep?

I’ve been wondering if bees sleep since I saw all these black bees zooming about in the early evening. They seemed to be chasing each other. Then they clustered on a few stalks of grass, jostling and fighting for the good spots, until they finally settled down. When I looked them up, I was told […]

Coneflower

As I said earlier, the coneflowers have been a happening place for bees since the middle of July. Other flowers have been popular party places, but nothing seems to have attracted so many bees for so long as the coneflowers. There’s still lots of bees, but the flowers are getting a bit ratty looking, and […]

Hawkweed

Lately these leggy yellow flowers are all over the coneflowers. They look a bit like dandelion flowers, but the dandelion flowered in spring; it’s high summer now, totally the wrong season. Plus there are candelabra of flowers on each plant, and it’s a lot taller. Hawkweed. So, any guesses why I’m interested in it?

Goldenrod

The coneflowers have been feeding bees for weeks now. So have the veronica, the wood sorrel, the St. John’s wort, and the bladder campion. It’s starting to get boring, all that growing and flowering and growing and flowering. Even the squash blossoms are getting familar. So it’s nice to see goldenrod join the crowd, complete […]

Mystery Grape

See those vines? I’m used to watching my step when I climb past them. I’m used to hearing bees buzzing my ears. Lately, there’s bees under those leaves, and it’s a little unnerving to have them buzzing around my feet.

Sunflowers are feeding bees

Presenting the big-ass sunflower that was just a tall weed that I hoped was a sunflower about a month ago. If you look close enough, you might see the bee on its face. And what’s the bee here for?

Virginia Creeper

Virginia creeper is one of those plants you have to keep an eye on and hack back when it goes too far. It grows so robustly because it’s a native plant, and also because it’s a native, the bees love it so much that you can hear the vines buzzing.

Shady Characters in the Garden

Stay cool.

Betty the Bee and Veronica

Finally, a plant that I actually put there on purpose is attracting bees. This bumblebee likes it so much, she’s going after the fallen bits.