Beespeaker is on Instagram, and a Personal Loss

I have finally figured out how to post images on Instagram without owning a cell phone or ipad. And then moments after I posted my first images, I got news that one of my dearest friends had died suddenly.

It's like the experts say, I was absolutely in denial. Even this morning, the reality of what her death means to me has not fully penetrated the surface of my heart. That would be too much pain at once. Instead we let the truth in by fits and starts. Grieving takes its own time and you break down at odd moments. When you're eating peach crisp at a diner and you just wish you were sharing it with her. When you're grieving, you're eating for two.

Her voice is very much alive in my head: eating, shopping walking alongside me

John O'Donahue said we must create a raft of words to help the dead pass over. I will create a raft of images.

Donna, we love you so very much.

"You belong among the wildflowers."

--Tom Petty

Mountainview Cemetery July Bee Safari

My bee safari buddy Jasna accompanied me on a trip to Mountainview Cemetery where we had a few good sightings. In the east meadow we found this andrena mining bee with velvety facial hair, velvet jodphurs and velvety bands of pale hair on her abdomen. She's a beauty. The flower she's sunning herself on is wild brown-eyed Susan.

Jasna spotted another bee (possibly the same species) curled around the stamens of a red geum flower. This is am example of a red flower that bees will visit, in spite of seeing red petals as black.

On a return trip to the same garden I captured a couple of blurry shots of a coelioxys cuckoo bee. Note the prongs on the back of the abdomen. She looked very similar to colletes in the nearby nodding onions, but it has those large green compound eyes. Also, note the way it tilts up its abdomen at the back, like the leafcutter it parasitizes.

There were two patches of nodding onion monopolized by plasterer bees (Colletes). They are hard to photograph because the onions are so low to the ground, and they disappear into the flowers while foraging.

But you can see her tongue here in this shot.

 And note the "prison stripes" on her tear-drop shaped abdomen. The males are smaller, slimmer, with longer antennae. They were impossible to photograph because they were defensively patrolling the nodding onions. Apart from wool carder bees, this is the only other male bee that I have seen using defensive behavior, knocking honeybees right out of the flowers! These bees obviously have a preference for nodding onions, so I am on a mission to get more of the plants and the bees in gardens.

I'm also on a mission to upgrade my bumblebee ID skills, and yes, even including the males, which are very difficult to pin down to species. And I'm beginning to appreciate the subtle beauty of the silvery blonde male bees.

The melissodes digger bees love the abundant Coreopsis grandiflora in the meadow right now. I do wish they would replicate this meadow all along the verge where it is planted.

I love this photo: the long horns of the male melissodes and the dramatic petals of the coreopsis make me a happy camper. Don't the petals look like the strokes of a paintbrush?

Okay, so here we have one of those difficult bee ID's. I posted the photos on Bugguide and Dr. Ascher thinks it's Bombus rufocinctus. This bee has many variations. So many, that bee nerds have a joke: "It's always Bombus rufocinctus." Well, I thought it was funny.

She was the side of a queen, and almost chocolatey in some places.  If she wasn't so large I would have clocked the bee as male. Anyway, I love a surprise.

It's Good to Bee Home

It's so good to be back with my home boys and my home bees. The backyard is an overgrown jungle full of berries and purple podded peas I grew from Saltspring Seeds. These are the photogenic peas on the cover of Dan Jason's new book: The Power of Pulses.

Now that I have a wee window of downtime, I had to go perform a meadowtation at Mountainview Cemetery. Right now it is a riot of buttery yellow large-flowered coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora).

a There are bumblebees, honeybees, and turquoise sweat bees swimming in the flowers and fish swimming in the meadow.

The fish are part of a project by artist Marina Szijarto.

 On the way back from the cemetery I noticed this lovely boulevard garden. Those drumstick alliums are beautiful even before they bloom.

And what about the colour in these echinacea flowers? Spectacular!

Spring Meadow at Mountainview Cemetery

Jasna and I visited the meadows at Mountainvew cemetery. This scruffy patch is a perfect site for little ground nesting bees. I actually find this bare soil very pleasing as a break from the normalized lawns. There's some interesting plants and rocks here.

We alse say many of these bee flies, which parasitize ground-nesting bees. They are strangely aggressive. We saw one give a roller derby side check to a little mason bee.

The meadow is blooming with flax and baby blue eyes and there are little blue flowers in one of the mossy lawns. This little one is a kind of Veronica, or Speedwell.

This is not micro clover, but black medic, an introduced weed that does have tiny flowers that feed bees.

After visiting the cemetery I sought sanctuary in the back yard, where a couple of columbines have appeared this year, as if by magic. I am so pleased! This one has medium-sized corollas. Now I am inspired to save the seeds and use them for some guerilla gardening.

The sweet cicely flowers are full of tiny ants.

Meanwhile, in my neighbor Catherine's yard, the roses are blooming and host the newly hatched velvety Andrena mining bees. They are also visiting the black raspberry flowers and forget-me nots in our back yard. Since I pulled up out back lawn, all sorts of ground-nesting bees have moved in.

Faux Queen on Gaillardia

When you're trying to get a good photo to ID a bee, you need to get a clear shot of the head, thorax and abdomen.

 Usually this takes me about 20-30 shots. It takes patience and perseverance.

It becomes a meditation.

And a kind of conversation. Often with the bee telling me in so many words to leave her alone so she can get back to work.

The model: I'm guessing she's a cuckoo  bumblebee. Nope, she is a true bumblebee. I should never attempt to ID a bumblebee on my own. Fail. Big fail.

What she's wearing: At first appearance it looks like she's covered in shaggy hairs designed for gathering pollen, but the glare off her body shows she may be wearing the faux fur intead of the setae a true bumblebee. And I don't see any pollen baskets.  Nope, she does have pollen baskets. Her true identity will be revealed in my upcoming book!

The location: Mountainview Cemetery meadow created by Jack Tupper as part of the Antler Collective.

The flower: A drought tolerant Gaillardia, or blanket flower

The seed mix: West Coast Seeds Bee Garden Blend custom made by Brian Campbell.

Mountainview Cemetery Meadow by the Antler Collective

Jack Tupper and Antler Collective have planted meadows all over Vancouver to study pollinators and the public's reaction to various kinds of meadows in public spaces. The meadow at Mountainview Cemetery is in bloom right now at 37th ave between Main and Fraser.

I found it touching and inspiring to see this vital planting in the graveyard.

 With every flutter, pulse and buzz, bees give us the message to live our lives diving into beauty.

Creating corridors of these meadows could provide valuable links among the network of backyard gardens in this neighborhood.