I thought I had nasty flies on my citrus blossoms a couple of weeks ago. I'd seen them just about cover the Fatsia blooms in late fall last year. I even cut off some of the blossoms to make them move on.... I couldn't imagine why flies would be attracted to pollen....
It seems they're Mason bees. I went from Uh oh...to Aha! Now I'm buggin' DH to make a house for them. I found direction for using a small cardboard box and parchment paper...which I made. I placed it on the back patio and had one bee going in and out the paper cylinders almost immediately. I thought this was going to be so easy. Apparently, they don't like cold weather and have disappeared again. Or...they didn't think much of my accommodations!
And the backyard was full of little honey bees. They didn't mind that the garden is in such disarray. That's how I found out about the Mason bees. I was trying to make sure the "flies" weren't competing with the honey bees.
Live and learn!
