Re: Are you seeing bees?

**camprn** 7/19/2014, 2:28 pm

Yup, beesource is great but thanks for the reminder. If you are thinking of keeping bees in the future spend the next year doing research and learning. Join a local bee club, listen when beekeepers talk. Regarding sting allergies, the reality is less than 1% of the population has a true allergy. But everyone typically has a reaction to venom.

**camprn** 7/22/2014, 7:14 pm

slimbolen99 7/22/2014, 9:26 pm

Cool pictures camprn

**sanderson** 7/22/2014, 9:52 pm

Are those solitary ground wasps?

**camprn** 7/22/2014, 10:10 pm

sanderson wrote:Are those solitary ground wasps?

Not sure. I know the black wasp (with iridescent blue wings) hunts up pest such as katydids and small grasshoppers. They are both an inch or more in length. Everyone is loving the leek blooms.

**donnainzone5** 7/22/2014, 10:37 pm

Word is out that my yard is hospitable to pollinators. I saw no bumblebees here last year and the year before, but there are several now. I also see honey bees, yellow jackets, and other helpful critters, not to mention the occasional ladybug.

**AtlantaMarie** 7/23/2014, 8:05 am

Woo-Hoo! Yea, Donna!

herblover 7/24/2014, 10:59 am

I was in the garden Tuesday morning where I have coneflowers as well as oregano (which has gone to flower at the moment) and a butterfly bush. Loads of honeybees and bumblebees. Also have seen them on the gayfeathers so I am confident they will find their way to the veggies!

nycquilter 7/24/2014, 12:04 pm

the bees in my bee balm are as close to stoned as a bee can get. Some are just hanging on and not moving! They are also loving my liatris. Same stoned behavior as on the bee balm.

**camprn** 7/24/2014, 12:45 pm

nycquilter wrote:the bees in my bee balm are as close to stoned as a bee can get. Some are just hanging on and not moving! They are also loving my liatris. Same stoned behavior as on the bee balm.

Hopefully they are content and not still from insecticide poisoning.

greatgranny 7/24/2014, 12:56 pm

nycquilter wrote:the bees in my bee balm are as close to stoned as a bee can get. Some are just hanging on and not moving! They are also loving my liatris. Same stoned behavior as on the bee balm.

Yup. The bumblebees are so thick on the bee balm that I am very careful when working near them. They are not paying any attention though. (too busy or too drunk)

nycquilter 7/24/2014, 3:02 pm

Camprn, there is no insecticide used within a few miles. "My" bees are drunk on pollen. That is the pure and simple fact.

Marc Iverson 7/24/2014, 4:20 pm

I have a few enormous oregano plants, one taking up four squares or more, and only decided to keep them (their flavor is so mild as to make them useless as a spice) because the bees love their flowers. So I planted beans and cucumbers heavily around them, hoping their pollination will be helped by the oregano.

greatgranny 7/24/2014, 10:04 pm

Not a very good video. Today the bumblebees were nuts on the bee balm.

https://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y65/musicchickmusic/Garden/bumblebee_zps8a4eb093.mp4

**sanderson** 7/25/2014, 1:17 am

Look at that little fellow work!

FamilyGardening 7/26/2014, 8:08 pm

we have so many bees this year that we cant walk barefoot in the front yard Shocked

I truly believe once they find a good source of food and water they remember and bring the whole family back the next year!.....every year we get more and more.....now its a bee party in our front garden

happy gardening
rose

**sanderson** 7/26/2014, 11:52 pm

nycquilter 7/27/2014, 6:31 am

I walked past my bee balm about 10 minutes ago while walking my dogs and all you could hear was the bees buzzing. They are such hard workers; I really admire them.

**camprn** 8/16/2014, 9:24 pm

Drinking raindrops on aubergine.

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CapeCoddess 8/17/2014, 3:29 pm

OMG! That's adorable! I want to give it a hug. What kind of honeybee is that?

**camprn** 8/17/2014, 4:27 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:OMG! That's adorable! I want to give it a hug. What kind of honeybee is that?

Italian.

plantoid 8/19/2014, 5:56 pm

Whilst on holiday in Northern Germany I got taking to a German bee keeper.. " Good news " he said , " The bees are back " .

It seems that this has also happend here in the UK despite our use of the nicotinoids .

Do you recall I said it could be to do with the sun spot flares and the magnetic flux alignment of the plantes from 21 Dec. 2012 .

It will be interesting to see how the recovery ( if it is indeed one ) is recorded in history in a few years time .

Pollinator 8/22/2014, 9:39 am

camprn wrote:
CapeCoddess wrote:OMG! That's adorable! I want to give it a hug. What kind of honeybee is that?
Italian.

When I was in the pollination business (now retired), I trucked bees all over the place, as much as I could do so, at night.

It was always fun to identify which hives were the Italian bees when they first came out in the morning in a new location. First they'd look confused, then they'd slap their foreheads and say, "Mama Mia."

Nonna.PapaVino 8/22/2014, 10:47 am

Though we don't raise bees, and don't know anyone in the area raising them, we're seeing honeybees, a couple dozen at a time, at the bird baths getting a drink, and working the squash blossoms. Perhaps they've colonized a hollow tree in the forest behind us--there used to be a large hive there before the bee population plummeted. Nonna

**donnainzone5** 8/22/2014, 11:06 am

Pollinator wrote:

When I was in the pollination business (now retired), I trucked bees all over the place, as much as I could do so, at night.

It was always fun to identify which hives were the Italian bees when they first came out in the morning in a new location. First they'd look confused, then they'd slap their foreheads and say, "Mama Mia."

Good one! You've started my day off right.

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