As If Honey Bees Didn't Have Enough to Worry About

Deadly beauty

The pink and white crab spiders also known as flower spiders spin their webs in flowers catching hapless pollinators.  These beautiful spiders come in a variety of colors and are a bit of the chameleon of the spider world.  This one is duplicating the beauty of the pink lily.  They can also be more yellow, brown, tan, and even shades of red.  I think this is the most beautiful spider I have ever seen.  Needless to say, the bee probably didn't share my enthusiasm.  Reading that they will even attack humans if they perceive them as a threat and will eat mosquitos; this time I am glad I was not first in line.

Proof of Life

A peony with red foliage making way.  The foliage greens up about the time the buds begin to form.

Winter, you shall not take us down.  You might win a battle here and there, but there will be gardens and there will be
flowers.

And lots of them!  These globe alliums have been seriously hindered by the Austrian black pine I removed after last summer's garden walk.  This will be their year!

 Although out of focus, you can see the results of the scratch test (scraping the outer skin to reveal that shimmer of green)on the akebia quinata:  proof of life!

Akebia quinata scratch test

Native geum triflorum, prairie smoke

A small alpine plant I grew from seed, which I am going to have to check my records to identify!

Crocus under the white pine

My own seedlings of 'Palace Purple' heuchera

Bergenia, or pigsqueak, grown from seed decades ago, and even here evergreen!

At least one of my Pink Knock Outs made it!

Russian achillea, 'Love Parade' looks like it means to fill in some significant real estate left vacant by the black pine.

Ah, tiny bud growth on a few of the branches of the Japanese 'Bloodgood' 

There are a lot of healthy buds on this clematis alpina 'Blue Dancer', which blooms on old wood.  Last year it bloomed two blooms near the ground in mid-May.  This year it looks like it will have a good show, but at eye level.

The privet are thinking about it, but until they leaf out there is the opportunity for the scilla to put on their opening show with a shimmer of blue.  I mean to move them (or some of them to a better location but life pre-empted me.

THIS JUST IN!

Report from the Outliers: The Bee Keeper says this was a good winter for bees.  Although, extremely, bitterly cold, there were none of the extreme temperature fluctuations we have seen in more recent years.  Her father's hives look good and are robust.  As you might remember her hive's queen was attacked and killed by marauding hornets.  The surviving bees were sent to their cousins' hives.  The Bee Keeper reports she will purchase a new queen and the bees will be back in a week or so.

Our Local Queen is DEAD!

The western region of the kingdom...

Terrible, sad news.

The Queen is dead. 

There was a great battle.  Her followers put up a valiant defense.  External aid was delivered, but to no avail.  There were too many invaders.  The enemy was hungry and angry.  They were ferocious.

And now She is dead and there is chaos.  It is late.  There doesn't seem to be a new Queen ready to step into the role.  What to do?  What to do? There was destruction and chaos.  All is chaos.

Their ally told me they were a friendly little group and definitely survivors.  But now what, what next step; without their queen what are their chances?

Winter looms large, and the colony is without direction.

I'm talking about the neighboring bee colony. 

There suddenly seemed to be more German hornets around.  Nasty creatures, insects in need of Ritalin; as they charge around from flower to flower never seemingly satisfied with the quality or quantity of pollen and nectar offered.  And always hovering, landing on the edge of a plate, cup, or glass ready to fight to the death at the least provocation. 

The neighboring bee keeper started to notice a plethora of wasps and followed them to their nest.  She is so much more in tune to the ways of pollinators than I.  She discovered they had taken up residence within the south wall of her home.  The buzzing and humming would terrify me.  At about the same time the hornets followed her back to the hive and the battle was on. 

The bee keeper began extermination attempts on the wasp nest, but it is difficult to get near enough to be effective.

The hornets, always looking for the sweetest deal, had discovered the hive and were intent on taking the honey by force.  The worker bees mounted a battle at the entrance.  The bee keeper narrowed the opening, like any good general, so the enemy would enter a single hornet at a time.  The honey bees with their backs to the wall, fought valiantly, but to no avail.

The wasps managed to get to the inner chambers of the hive where the Queen was busy with her important work of laying new eggs and directing the work of the hive.  They killed her quickly and began to pillage the hive's honey.

The bee keeper tells me in the summer the worker bees live just 21 days.  This time of year the life spans stretch out, but that bees really never go dormant as we think of it; a sort of suspended sleep or hibernation.  The workers are busy all winter keeping the queen warm.  This Queen had brought the hive through last winter; something the bee keeper has managed only three times in 15 years here in frozen Wisconsin. 

Many commercial bee keepers winter their hives down south.  This I knew as in my youth Wisconsin was then the number two honey producer in the country and I was a good friend with on of the daughters of the largest honey producers in the state, possibly there largest.  She would often visit Louisiana where they "wintered" their bees.

My neighboring bee keeper says her dad also has a couple hives.  She's going to take her hive there, "The hive still has a lot of bees in it."  Maybe she can re-queen the hive, although it is so late in the year to attempt it, by taking a queen from one of those hives where there is the possibility without the chaos and the destruction caused by the wasps, those bees will make another queen of their own.

I hope the neighborhood gets a new queen.

Long live the Queen!

Pollinator Watch

Hydrangea tardiva 'Unique' "B'bar is open!"  Multiple pollinators feeding on the nectar included ants, flies, beetles, bees, and wasps.

Chart of bee and bee-like creatures.

I've taken on a new fascination-- bee watching.  Right now the best locations in my garden for bee watching are the hydrangea tardiva 'Unique', plants of the sedum genus, caryopteris 'Dark Knight', and New York iron weed.

As I study these different pollinators I find it more difficult to correctly identify them than you would think.  Everyone thinks they know what is a bee, wasp, fly, grasshopper, or beetle (the categories I typically break these insects into); but you may be wrong if you thought this was a bee...
or this was a honey bee...

And then there is the issue of some possible hybrids, like Africanized honey bees... I swear I saw one of these, but I could not get a photo of it.  Point and shoot got me just very blurry images showing a color pattern similar to an Africanized bee.  Waiting for it in one spot, failed as well, no matter how still and furtive I was.  All told, that bee was frenetic, angry, unsatisfied with the floral offering; a bee in need of Ritalin.

Identification of bees versus other wannabees (get it?) comes down to looking at the wing pattern and the shape and look of their eye, antennae, and leg joint-ed-ness.  (decidedly NOT a word).  What tribe, species, or subspecies and or version like Italian, Russian, German is a matter of color pattern.  (Here you would think I was talking dressings or potato salad!)   Looking at pictures side by side it is easy to say, oh yeah Italian! But as you can guess, I'm having a hard time convincing them to stand still.

Not a bee or a wasp, this black insect was nearly 2" long.

A honey bee top left,a wild honey bee center, and a wasp to the right.

ZomBee Watch!

ZomBees!




I've got to pass this along to all you zombie apocalyptic gardeners!  No need to bring the ax or crossbow.

Plus, this could be important.