Spring Is around the Corner
Hello, Carpenter Bees!
We had a beautiful sunny day in Atlanta, so I decided to walk around the yard and plan this year’s changes in the garden. The daffodils and camellias were blooming. The contrast between yellow flowers coming up from the ground and pink blooms hanging down above my head (the bushes are about 8 feet high) was breathtaking.
As I walked up the hill to the street, I saw carpenter bees swarming around the mailbox. We seem to get a a few every year, possibly related females, and they bore shallow holes in the wooden upright on the mailbox. The carpenter bees never bother us or our cats. They seem to be happy, once they build a nest.
As you may be aware, I love researching. So, I spent a few minutes learning more about carpenter bees, and it turns out they are very important pollinators. According to Wikipedia, they pollinate open-faced and oblong flowers. This makes sense to me, because I do believe I saw a few on the trumpets of zucchini squash last year.
With the Spring Equinox a bit over a week away (March 20, 2014), there will be so much beauty to explore in Nature. Already our weeping cherry trees are blossoming, buds are popping on the bushes and trees, more flowering plants are poking their heads up through the dirt. I’m really hoping for a good year for the bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and other pollinators. They give us the gifts of beauty and real food. What a blessing!
