The Red Hot Pokers are flowering (Kniphofia ‘Winter Cheer’) and this reminds me that last year I assumed that bees didn’t like them, because I hadn’t noticed any bees when I looked at the flowers. Others quickly mentioned that theirs were covered with bees. Sure enough, as the flowers start to go over the bees come in. It’s just a case of timing.
I was surprised the other morning as I walked around the garden listening and looking to see what the bees were enjoying most this week. Hundreds of bees were leaving and returning to the hive, ignoring the blazing mass of goldenrod, dahlias, coreopsis, and heleniums I have planted, not to mention the masses of wild carrot and thistles which have edged in to take advantage of the new compost.
The blue mist and the sedums down the driveway were happily filled with bumble bees, but not many honeys. When I arrived at the Louisa plum trees the reason was clear, fruit was the breakfast choice. On the tree and on the ground, the overripe and bird-pecked plums were full of bees. Not a wasp in sight, only bees.
I haven’t seen this before, but several things are different this year. We have had unusual cold weather – it’s now been now confirmed that it has been 1 degree colder than the norm this summer. We also have seen none of the Vespula wasps which often infest the area at this time of year. And it’s the first year that the Louisas have had a good crop of fruit.
Later in the day, as C was cooking second breakfast, the bees were having lunch in the asters.
Sometime during the winter our bee queen passed away. Seeing no brood we worried, but we read online that sometimes Italian Queens were slow to start laying in Spring. Then we saw erratic egg laying with several eggs in each cell, but we read online that this sometimes this happens with young queens.
Absent Gardener 