Sunday Bee Safari

Here are some photos from my bee safari today starting at VanDusen gardens with the elegant Triliums.

And I LOVE this cutie patootie in the Siberian squill. Can you see the little grains of blue pollen on the bee's leg? Do you know how difficult it is to take photos of Siberian squill? I suffered for this photo! Plant these high up in your stepped garden so you can go underneath the flowers to take the photos.

I think this bee is a little too small for the flower. She took a long time trying to acess the nectar and she hasn't collected much pollen.

Aren't you in love with currants right now?

The crab apple blossoms and cherry trees were surrounded by clouds of all kinds of bees in different sizes, especially now that the queen bumblebees are foraging beside the tiniest of bees.

I need help identifying this tree in Oak Meadows park, but it was also full of bees.

But the bee plant of the day was this spirea. Whenever I see the name "spirea" I know it's going to be a good bee plant and the blossom density on this beauty was unsurpassed in the gardens today. It's right near the 37th street entrance to VanDusen Gardens, so you don't even have to pay to  get into the garden to see it: Hybrid Bridalwreath (Spirea x cinerea).

I took this photo of the shooting star to illustrate how similar it is to the morphology of cranberry blossoms. Please let me know if you see cranberries in bloom as I plan to head out to the fields to take photos.

The Shape of April Bee Flowers

One of our neighbors has planted native bushes on the boulevard in front of her house. This has created a super bee habitat, with mason bees zipping back and forth from holes in the adjacent power pole to the Oregon grape bush and the Pieris japonica (not native, but very popular with native mason bees).

 I never noticed before that the Oregon grape blossoms are like miniature daffoldils

The female mason bees will transform from larvae to adult bees in the back of these holes, and the males will develop closer to the entrance. Some of the boys will inevitably be lost to woodpeckers.

 The blossoms of the redflowering current are also like miniature daffodils.

 The honeybee is one of many bees who can access the nectar in the blossoms. All kinds of currants are attracted to currant blossoms. We really need to load up our city parks and gardens with different varieties of currant bushes.

This little mystery bee showed up on the current leaf. He's got a sweet red moustache and large mandibles. I don't know the Latin name, but I'm going to call him Angus.

 And for a completely different blossom shape--this purple dead nettle flower has the bilateral symmetry of the mint family. Did you know this weed is edible? Just remember to leave some for the bees!

Finally, here's the narrow bell-shaped flowers of the Pieris japonica. In June, the native rose nearby will also provide food for native bees. Thanks to this gardener, this boulevard is an excellent bee habitat!