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Florence
7-24-12, 5:30pm
Most of the plants in our yard have been chosen to attract bees, butterflies, and/or hummingbirds. Many times our bottlebrush bush or salvia bed is throbbing with the hum of bees working the flowers. Early this year we had as many bees as usual but at some time in May, our bees disappeared. Not just decreased in number but were gone, all of them. It wasn't because we had no blooming flowers because we did. We have been bee-less since then until today. I was taking a letter out to the mailbox and passing by the line of gorgeous blooming crepe myrtles along the drive, when I heard the crepe myrtles humming. Sure enough, there were the bees all over the blooms. It was so good to see and hear them again.

cdttmm
7-24-12, 6:20pm
Glad to hear your bees are back! They are fascinating little creatures!

Tussiemussies
7-24-12, 9:13pm
Glad to hear that your bees are back. At first I was thinking that it was part of their decline, but glad that is not the case.

puglogic
7-24-12, 10:12pm
That gives me hope, Florence.....maybe the bees are smarter than we're giving them credit for, and go where they need to go when things are tough. So glad they're back!!

We have a huge old crabapple tree outside out back door, and in the spring I had this ethereal moment when I came outside and every blossom, it seems, had a bee in it. Massive tree, 30-foot spread, and it was like a cloud of bees with the slanting early morning light behind them. Breathtaking. I love those little creatures and all their kin.

cattledog
7-24-12, 10:36pm
Glad to hear that too. It seems like we have more bees this year than last year. It could be that we have a few different plants in the garden this year?

razz
7-25-12, 6:34am
Have to share a chuckle.

We have a bird bath that we replenish each day especially with the drought as many creatures visit it daily. DH had sprayed it clean and then was using a gentle shower to fill. The bees were buzzing around waiting for the fresh water and one bee simply relaxed and floated on the water just like any kid playing in the rainand then flew off. We have been amazed how many insects need the bird bath for their water supply. There is a lot more intelligence in insects than I ever expected.

Florence
7-25-12, 9:22am
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That gives me hope, Florence.....maybe the bees are smarter than we're giving them credit for, and go where they need to go when things are tough. So glad they're back!!

We have a huge old crabapple tree outside out back door, and in the spring I had this ethereal moment when I came outside and every blossom, it seems, had a bee in it. Massive tree, 30-foot spread, and it was like a cloud of bees with the slanting early morning light behind them. Breathtaking. I love those little creatures and all their kin.

Me too, puglogic, I just love to watch them.

Gregg
7-25-12, 12:31pm
I love bees. We're in the midst of planning new landscaping and like you Florence much of it is specifically designed to attract bees, butterflies and humming birds. On a related note, I was on the golf course the other day and heard a loud hum coming from a stand of trees. We went over to investigate and found a hive in a tree that none of us had ever seen before. It was HUGE. I don't even know how to estimate how many bees were there, but a six or seven foot section of the trunk of a fairly large tree was completely covered with bees. It was good to see such a healthy hive. I do pity the golfer who chunks a shot into that tree!

pinkytoe
7-25-12, 12:34pm
I just noticed tons of bees on our crepe myrtles too which I thought was odd since they don't normally hang around our crepes.