Don't Sit on the Bees of Edmonton!

When I arrived at my friend's house I was happy to see a small patch of flowers that was busy with the bees of Edmonton. These painted daisies attracted many species of bees.

There are many forms of Veronica, and this was one I hadn't seen before. The bumblebees love it.

I was very encouraged to see this sign, but Edmonton seems very lawn proud. The city was just laying new turf on the boulevard in front of the house as I arrived. I am so tempted to roll it up and plant the West Coast Seeds low-growing lawn alternative instead. But I was very impressed with the amount of workers the city is employing on their maintenance crews. Later a truck with a giant tank of water drove by with a man watering the lawns from the truck. Wow. Too bad they aren't watering a bee-friendly alternative to turf.

There is a strong tradition of gardening in Edmonton in the private and public sectors and this place has potential to become an official bee-friendly city.

So, bees often make a liar of me. It's ironic that two days after I tell someone bees don't forage in peonies I see this. Can you spot the "sleeping bee"?

She wasn't sleeping after all. I am very curious about the cause of her death. She doesn't appear to be very old.

I never see bees in these flowers in Vancouver. At least some of the time and water going into these hanging baskets is feeding the bees, but we can do better!

There are so many of these lovely roses in Edmonton. The bumblebees LOVE them.

A sign invites me to sit and rest a while.

 Don't sit on the bees! Notice the evidence of leafcutter activity.

The ninebark attracts Andrena mining bees. What a lovely spot!