Saturday 6 June 2015

the wrong kind of bee

The Aquilegia spread like weeds, but the bees are always fond of them, and they do a good job of stringing together the end of the tulips with the beginning of the geraniums and poppies, so I tend to let them have their heads. This year they've gone wild!

And also, I've noticed something else having a go at their heads:

  mark of the robber bees
Those pretty spurs are full of nectar, and the insects are supposed to wriggle deep into the flower to get them, pollinating as they go. But plenty of  my stumpy little bees and bee flies can't get down into there. It seems that some have done the obvious, and chewed straight through the petal.

I'd say tough luck on the Aquilegia, but, really, they're not a plant that struggles to come to seed!

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