Taking Care of Bzzzness

Remember, all photos enlarge!

Bumble Bee (Genus Bombus or) on Anemone hupehensis 'September Charm'.

Lovable Bumbles are the hardest workers in my garden. Bumblebees will work when it's cool and cloudy, unlike the honeybee, which needs a warmer, sunny day to bring them into the garden. Bumbles will visit the earliest dandelion and stay around till the last aster disappears. I've often come across them sleeping on flowers early in the morning. The above photo was shot earlier this summer, but it typifies a sleeping Bumble! Don't you want to pet them? I have and they usually sleep through it! I love the Bumbles.

Mist Flower and what looks like a small carpenter bee

This tiny little critter, and many others I can't identify,
play an important part in pollinating plants in my corner of the garden.

Fennel Flower with a small visitor

There are nearly 4000 species of native bees in the US. Some form colonies while others live and work a solitary life. Many people are unaware of the important role native bees play in pollinating crops....especially the legumes and our fruit crops. Me included! The more I read~~the more I learn about these wonderful pollinators. Perilla and honeybee this morning

Honeybees get all the attention, but, we need our native bees.

Bumble and Cup Plant

I garden in the Eastern Broadleaf Forrest Ecoregion. * About 15 states make up this 127,000 square mile province that includes low rolling hills, flat areas, cedar glades and barrens and elevations from 80 feet to 1650 feet. What sets this area apart is the abundance of both oak and hickories. It includes US hardiness zones 2b through 7 bc! Talk about diversity!

During the last several years I've made changes to my garden to attract more pollinators: like planting more herbs~~especially mints, annuals like zinnias and even more native plants. The Pollinator Partnership is a good resource if you want to learn about pollinators and what to plant in your garden. You can visit them here.


You've surely guessed! My favorite of the native bees are the bumbles!

Bumble again!

Technically, Bumbles are generalists, because they don't require any specific plants. They are not picky about nectar and will visit almost any nectar producer. Experts say bees like bright white, yellow or blue/purple flowers. I've seen them on every plant in this garden.

Cup plant with wasp, possibly a paper wasp! The tiny wasp waist is a giveaway to its ID!

If you're aiming for diversity...You have to accept all visitors to the garden! Wasps visit the plants, too. Bees and wasps are members of the Hymenoptera family. (That name always makes me think of mummy movies). While wasps aren't considered true pollinators, they do have a role in our gardens; as predators of harmful caterpillars and other bugs. Not a perfect guest, they do get the good caterpillars, too!

Sedum 'Matrona'~~

Soon the honey bees will be visiting the garden. Honeybee and perilla this morning
Their presence isn't big here until early fall when sedums bloom and a bit later when the native asters appear. Honey bees are not native to North America...they were brought to the US about 400 years ago, but, our agricultural industry is dependent upon them to pollinate some of our cash crops!

Cutleaf rudbeckia with a Bumble

The Bumbles are major pollinators in my garden and in yours.
If you grow tomatoes, you want these guys in your garden.
Wind isn't as effective a pollinator for tomatoes as the Bumble.
They also pollinate orchard crops, berries, watermelon, sunflowers and other fruits.
Did you know that these hardworking bumbles encourage honeybees
to move more often between rows of plants? Ah...competition is good!

Small carpenter bee lapel pin adorns Monch aster
this is one of my favorite shots...enlarge to see how pretty the lapel pin looks!

In natural landscapes, you'll notice a diversity of pollinators busily at work:
bumblebees, moths, flies, beetles, butterflies, birds, and bats....and the tiniest little bees!

Blanket Flower with Bumble

Bumbles live in/form small colonies that are usually underground. I leave some bare ground for bees that tunnel into the soil for nesting....They are known to move into abandoned mouse nests! I sure would rather have bees then mice and voles!

Bumble on the fading monarda August 2009

We don't need to know all there is to know about bees and other pollinators
to have them in our gardens!
But, there are a few practices that encourage them to stay!

Want pollinators?~~Here's what we can do:

• Plant many different flowers that bloom over the entire growing season to encourage different native bees to move into your garden.
  
• Plant flowers in drifts....It increases pollinator efficiency and looks prettier!
  
• Plant night blooming and fragrant flowers.
• Make peace with clover and dandelions.
• Let our gardens be a little messy, so that there are nesting places and shelter.
• If you want to encourage a diversity of pollinators~~ you will need to provide open areas (e.g. bare earth, large stones) where butterflies, may bask, and moist soil from which they may get needed minerals.
• Accept that when we invite pollinators into the garden, plants will get eaten and look ratty for awhile.
• Remember birds and bats!
  

You know this started out to be a short photo essay of Buzzers in my garden! But, one internet search and voila! What better way to celebrate labor Day then a nod to the hard workers in our garden!

Thanks for stopping by~~I hope your holiday weekend has been good.

Gail

* (Bailey’s Ecoregions of the United States (developed by the United States Forest Service), is a system created as a management tool and is used to predict responses to land management practices around the country.)