Mission Honey Bee Suite is dedicated to honey bees, beekeeping, wild bees, other pollinators, and pollination ecology. It is designed to be informative and fun, but also to remind readers that pollinators throughout the world are endangered. Although they may seem small and insignificant, pollinators are vital to anyone who eats.
Plants that Attract Pollinators Popular Garden Plants:
Basil (Ocimum)
Bee balm (Monardia)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Borage (Borago)
Caltrop (Kallstroemia)
Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster)
English Lavendar (Lavandula)
Escallonia (Escallonia)
Globe thistle (Echinops)
Hyssop (Hyssopus)
Licorice Mint (Agastache)
Marjoram (Origanum)
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)
Milkweed (Asclepias)
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus)
Russian Sage (Perovskia)
Sage (Salvia)
Wallflower (Erysimum)
Wild lilac (Ceanothus)
Zinnia (Zinnia)
Northwest Native Plants:
Aster (Aster)
California poppy (Eschscholzia)
Currant (Ribes)
Elder (Sambucus)
Fireweed (Epilobium)
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium)
Larkspur (Delphinium)
Lupine (Lupinus)
Madrone (Arbutus)
Mint (Mentha)
Oregon grape (Berberis)
Penstemon (Penstemon)
Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron)
Saskatoon (Amalanchier)
Scorpion-weed (Phacelia)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)
Stonecrop (Sedum)
Sunflower (Helianthus)
Wild buckwheat (Eriogonum)
Willow (Salix)
Yarrow (Achillea)
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An ocellus is a simple eye having a single lens. This type of eye does not form an image but acts as a photo receptor, detecting changes in light intensity and direction.
Many arthropods have ocelli. They are especially common in arthropods that fly—such as bees. Bees have three ocelli on the crown of [...]
One morning this spring I went outside ready to take photos of mason bees coming and going from the bee condo. What I found there wasn’t a bee but my cat, perched about eight feet high on the roof of the bee condo.
Although my camera was basically prepared for some macro photography, I [...]
The Adirondack chair, below, is in my yard. A close-up of one of the screw holes shows that a mason bee decided it was a good place to lay her eggs. A seal of mud now protects the eggs that are laid in individual compartments, end-to-end inside the hole. The fact that I provided [...]
Emerged today, March 24. Notice the three small eyes atop its head. Photo by the author.
I see a lot of posts and tweets that seem to point to the mason bee as the answer to pollinator decline. Sure, I like mason bees, and here in the Pacific Northwest they have the added advantage of being native. However, we don’t yet have a consensus about what is killing the honey [...]
When planting a pollinator garden, keep in mind that pollinators need food during the entire growing season. Although some species live only a few weeks, different species become active at different times of the year. In other words, something must be in flower at all times throughout the spring, summer, and fall if you [...]
My first shipment of orchard mason bees arrived in shiny little tubes that look like drinking straws, packed in a box that weighs next to nothing. So why am I messing with mason bees in the midst of a million honey bees?
The answer is partly because they’re native—I encourage native species whenever I [...]
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Copyright Unless otherwise noted, all text and images used on HoneyBeeSuite.com are copyright Rusty Burlew 2010-2012 and may not be used without permission.
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