Posts Tagged ‘crab spider’

The bees have been busy and so have we.   Gerard Van Duinen of La Tabú (The Hague) graciously let us use his Tango music.

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I could have shot a bunch of stills of these bees pollinating flowers, but the video together with the music conveys so much more.

I hope you especially enjoy the leaf cutter bees demonstrating their petal cutting abilities and the crab spider attacking the honeybee…and missing!  Hooray!

I shot some more video today (August 7) to show that the bees are still going strong on the African Blue Basil in August.  It’s good to have something for them after the main nectar flow of blackberries.  Jeff Kerker says that the African Blue Basil will produce flowers all summer.

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What flowers to plant/buy for our area of Zone 5? These flowers have done well for us…

Bees love California Lilac which provides early nourishment for the bees

Bumble bee on the Comfrey, which can be considered invasive, but provides food for the bees.

Echium plant grew from 2 ft (.6 m) high last year to about 10 ft (3m) high this year

Bumble bees go for the Echium in a big way

SIX BEES ON A SINGLE BLOSSOM

Bees go crazy on these blossoms (which I was under the impression were Island Bush Poppies) as can be seen in this fuzzy photo of six bees on a Hypericum.  It’s covered with bees mid June to late July.

Bee diving into Penstemon blossom. These start blooming June.

Dahlias, blackberries (main Oregon crop for bees), sunflowers, wall flowers, rosemary are also good bets for bees, as well as cotoneaster which grows wild and provides food late in the season.

These are plants we’ve had in our garden. I’m sure there are many more. Please fill free to add to the list in the comments.

Many of these flowers serve as butterfly attractors also.   See Butterflies.

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