My Favorite Pollinator!

To be honest it's my favorite right this minute. But, it's definitely in my favorite pollinator family~Bees!

Some homeowners think this big beautiful bee is a pain in their siding! I truly can't blame them. Carpenter bees love wood and any unpainted wood is very attractive to them! Including the stained posts on my carport!

There's so much I can tell you all about them. Instead, I'll tell you three things that you might not know and suggest you take a look at a post I wrote last year for more information.  Just click on this Carpenter Bees.

They typically visit flowers that are large, open-faced with abundant nectar and pollen, day-bloomers, pale or saturated in color, and that have a fresh odor, anthers specialized for pollen collection by bees, and corollas with strong walls.

Not a pollinator of salvias this Carpenter bee is covered with garlic pollen

They are cheaters in the pollination game when it comes to some flowers. They cannot climb into the flowers of salvias and instead break open the sides to get at the nectar and consequently are not salvia pollinators.

and the final thing, I will share with you is this~

My Carpenter Bees have never, ever, ever had to deal with pesticides. I hung a pottery Red-bellied woodpecker on their favorite of my carport stained pillars and they have moved on! Just like magic!

xoxogail

Flowers from top down!
Lobelia siphilitica 
Pentas lanceolata 
Caryopteris × clandonensis 'First Choice'
Phlox glaberrima (blooming almost non-stop)
Salvia azurea
Coreopsis cultivar

The ceramic bird is by artist Steve Thorstenson.   You can find his work at Montana Birdworks


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.