Ode to asters

Oh, asters, wild asters, beloved of bees.
You tumble down hill and sway on the breeze.

More bumbles, more goldenrod

Here it is the end of September, and the goldenrod is still flowering, and the bumblebees are still foraging,  and still crowding two or three at once on the same flowers.  The bumbles seem less impatient here, taking a long sip before they move on. Such happy bees!

Fussy bumbles

The Latin name for my bumblebees is Bombus impatiens, and when they’re foraging on raspberry flowers, they really earn their name.

Bee-vouac

The cool weather seems to be confusing the squash plants. Usually the flowers are closed by noon, but this was still wide open to what little sun warmed the gray sky this afternoon. What I wanted to know is whether there were any squash bees inside.

Swaying, buzzing goldenrod

After a cool June and a wet July, August is actually August! What a concept. Hot, muggy weather. Suddenly darkening skies that tease with the promise of a thunderstorm. And goldenrod arching up from the ground and swaying under the weight of bees and other buzzers. Goldenrod is one of the best bee plants. Sometimes [...]

More fruit for squirrels to wish they could steal

Never mind the late lamented peaches. More flowers are coming, promising more fruits. The raspberries are still going steadily, and the eggplants are just beginning to flower.  Since raspberries have thorns and raw eggplant is bitter, I just might get to eat some of these.

Coneflowers are buzzing

Coneflowers are buzzing.
Buzzing with bumblebees.
Buzzing with honeybees.
Buzzing with … flies? That doesn’t even look like a syrphid fly. But you know what? There’s lots of coneflowers for everyone.

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 fly [...]

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 they [...]

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, [...]