One day in August I was sitting in an Adirondack chair midway between a busy bee hive and a large stand of lemon balm. I had a notebook and was trying to outline my next post. “You are so noisy, I can’t think!” I complained aloud. But I wasn’t addressing the hive, I was speaking […] Read more
I am fascinated by the amount of ouch that comes along with a bee sting. After getting stung by honey bees so often, I was amazed at how differently stings from other bees can feel. For example, the sting of an alkali bee is sharp like a pin prick, but the pain recedes immediately and […] Read more
Guess who’s coming to dinner? It’s a Pacific tree frog looking for an easy snack. Yesterday I was in the garden, still trying to catch a leafcutter in the act of cutting, when I decided to look for petal pieces in the pollinator housing. The housing is nearly full already, but I came face to […] Read more
When Honey Bee Suite was only a few months old, several of my friends told me the site was too “text heavy” and needed more photos. At the time, I was extremely discouraged by this news. After all, I began a blog because I wanted to write, not because I wanted to take pictures. Nevertheless, […] Read more
Remember those pollinator gardens we discussed back in January? Remember the plant lists for bees and the arguments about natives versus invasives? Well then, how is it going? On this end, I’ve got good news and bad—tales that are amazing, funny, and disappointing. Here’s my report so far. Siberian squill: I planted hundreds of Siberian […] Read more
One of my favorite blogs, TrogTrogBlog, is written by Christopher Wren, a beekeeper and nature photographer living in northern England. Anyone who manages to take photos of wild bees has my immediate attention, but Christopher is especially talented. He says: My interest in bees began seriously when I started keeping honey bees three years ago […] Read more
It’s about time that someone clearly and succinctly wrote about the “bee problem.” And someone finally did. Gwen Pearson, known for years as the Bug Girl, has a story in yesterday’s Wired that says it all, “You’re Worrying about the Wrong Bees.” I’ve been a fan of Gwen and her writing for a long time, […] Read more