I saw one today very happy to see one very rare years ago so plentiful has anyone seen any?
TIM

Yes, I plant for them because wild bees are my main pollinators. I enjoy watching them fly from flower to flower (and wondering how they stay airborne).

I have a bee and butterfly garden. Lots of bees, native and honey. Most of my bees are carpenter bees, but I do have the occasional bumble. Whats really funny to me about carpenter and bumble bees is to go out on a very cool morning and find them motionless on a flower. Seems that can't move of fly until it warms up.

Amazingly enough, bumblebees are out earlier and later then honeybees.

I have a mix of mostly wild bees and bumblebees and once in awhile, a honey bee. There are no commercial beekeepers or crops growing in our area (farm country is about 50 miles that way ) but, it is legal for individuals to keep bee hives in their yards.

I have seen three very large Bumbles this spring.

See quite a few of the bumbles this spring

I have been seeing them and caught a few that come in the house when I leave the door open for the dog. Easy to catch and release. Once the Echinacea get going I will have lots of them.

great to hear about the bees

BEES

I have two beekeepers within a mile of me. We have a very healthy and vigorous beekeeping association in my county and I have a lot of friends that are beekeepers. At the end of hummer season I take the bee guards off the feeder and leave it up and filled for the honeybees. I will go out there to get the feeder to fill it up and have to brush away about 40 to 50 bees. As long as I move slow and steady I don't get stung. They seem quite used to people, so I suspect they're from nearby hives.
I have a huge patch of oregano in my flower bed, and each year I let it go through the first bloom for the bees, then I cut it back nearly to the ground and gather the new growth for my herb uses. I noticed yesterday it was blooming and full of honeybees. The blooms are too small for the bumbles. They were working all the salvias really hard.

I am seeing Bumble Bees and Wasps, not hornets fortunately.
I have healthy stand of White Clover and have not seen any bees, of any sort in them.
I have not been seeing skeets, oddly, but then Dragon Flies are out in force this year.

Saw a lot of bumblebees early in the season, lots of Dragon Flies, skeeters are coming out now.

GREAT TO HEAR MR BEE IS AROUND

I just noticed this. It's been happening every year but I've never paid attention until last winter. This spring and summer my tree has been covered with hundreds of bees. My mom says it is a bush that was shaped to grow like a tree. There's 3 different kinds of bees.

Lol I just previewed my message. They are hard to see.

And then I saw this black wasp with a red behind. About the size of my thumb. Nasty, fierce, but quite amazing looking thing.

SoulReaver, do you have any idea what the tree/shrub is?I sure would like to have one, maybe post your pic on the plant ID forum? As for the wasp, did it look like this one?

Oops! Just realized mine was in reverse colors from yours!

Haha yea but that is gnarly!

Lots of small bumble bees on the clover in my yard.

I saw this same wasp drag a huge spider across my yard and pull it down a hole in the ground at the bottom of one of my pots. Never having seen this before, I just stood there with my mouth hanging wide open! It was moving too fast for me to run in the house to get the I Pad and get a pic, anyway.

great to hear Mr BEE IS STILL DOING GOOD
:hurray: