Some of the honey bees overnight, on selected flowers! Sometimes a flower's anatomy provides a quality petal cradle adjacent to the bee pantry. The bees are choosy where they sleep.
Jomanda is a ball dahlia that has smallish upturned edges to the petals that are form-fitting for the demanding bee body and suitable for an overnight retreat. It also keeps them close to the pollen larder. They are worker bees so they don't have to go home at night to a mate if they are busy bees. but just have to bring home food in the daylight.
If they don't bother going home, they can start early in the morning which is admirable in the eyes of the workaholic, though I found this llttle lad a bit sluggish at 6;30 that morning. I roused him but he only showed modest enthusiasm about leaving. When he left, the cradle was empty except for a messy dropping or two.
We had bee hives early on, but then encountered escape variants that Mother Nature harboured in tree hollows or some dry refuge. Whatever! They were welcome here and perhaps had escaped the possibly mite-vectored disease, Colony Collapse Disorder that has assailed so many of their colleagues in close quarters. While we celebrate their hard work bringing home the bacon, we know that fresh air, sunshine and freedom from crowding is the healthy answer for them, and frankly , for all of us! We are also less likely to succumb to Colony Collapse Disorder if we embrace that same environment and spend more time in the flower cradle, freedom and sunshine.
Jomanda is a ball dahlia that has smallish upturned edges to the petals that are form-fitting for the demanding bee body and suitable for an overnight retreat. It also keeps them close to the pollen larder. They are worker bees so they don't have to go home at night to a mate if they are busy bees. but just have to bring home food in the daylight.
If they don't bother going home, they can start early in the morning which is admirable in the eyes of the workaholic, though I found this llttle lad a bit sluggish at 6;30 that morning. I roused him but he only showed modest enthusiasm about leaving. When he left, the cradle was empty except for a messy dropping or two.
We had bee hives early on, but then encountered escape variants that Mother Nature harboured in tree hollows or some dry refuge. Whatever! They were welcome here and perhaps had escaped the possibly mite-vectored disease, Colony Collapse Disorder that has assailed so many of their colleagues in close quarters. While we celebrate their hard work bringing home the bacon, we know that fresh air, sunshine and freedom from crowding is the healthy answer for them, and frankly , for all of us! We are also less likely to succumb to Colony Collapse Disorder if we embrace that same environment and spend more time in the flower cradle, freedom and sunshine.
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