Thank you for this terrific article, it answered a couple of points I was curious about.
I currently live in a semi-rural area in New Zealand. Each day I am delighted to see an abundance of these adorable and industrious girls gracefully touring the garden.
It is so refreshing as we just do not see them in Sydney (my home town).
They are interested in the majority of the flowering plants, including fruit and vegetables. They appear to be attracted to my lavender bushes located around the garden and on either side of the stairs to my door.
It is pure joy to watch them going about their daily activities. My darling little Burmese girl has taken to laying within one of the lavender bushes so she can observe them ‘up close and personal’! The butterflies fascinate her also, for hours she spends with them. Never harming or worrying them, simply just observing.
Is it true that bees are attracted to flowers that are in the blue/purple spectrum? In addition to the plethora of bumblebees, I’m also host to a couple of colonies of honeybees.
We have a birdbath water feature driven by a water pump that floods the bath allowing the overflow to run down the sides in a thin layer. The honeybees LOVE it, there are hundreds each hour that come to rehydrate in the summer heat whole also carrying a little surface tension ball of water back to the hive to refresh to queen and her ‘court’. Occasionally there have been so many they a practically swarming. It’s a genuine thrill to contribute to their welfare and comfort. They facilitate our survival more than most realise. So if you live in a warm locale and have a garden, the bees will be grateful if you wish to invest in something similar.
Sadly there are a number of bees at the end stage of their incredible dear little lives that stay at the birdbath to rest eternally. Too exhausted they remain cool, hydrated and I hope, comfortable until the end. That even is fulfilling, knowing many of them can meet their natural end rested and not overheating and thirsty.
Thank you again for your wonderful article. Best regards from the antipodes ü
Thank you for this terrific article, it answered a couple of points I was curious about.
I currently live in a semi-rural area in New Zealand. Each day I am delighted to see an abundance of these adorable and industrious girls gracefully touring the garden.
It is so refreshing as we just do not see them in Sydney (my home town).
They are interested in the majority of the flowering plants, including fruit and vegetables. They appear to be attracted to my lavender bushes located around the garden and on either side of the stairs to my door.
It is pure joy to watch them going about their daily activities. My darling little Burmese girl has taken to laying within one of the lavender bushes so she can observe them ‘up close and personal’! The butterflies fascinate her also, for hours she spends with them. Never harming or worrying them, simply just observing.
Is it true that bees are attracted to flowers that are in the blue/purple spectrum? In addition to the plethora of bumblebees, I’m also host to a couple of colonies of honeybees.
We have a birdbath water feature driven by a water pump that floods the bath allowing the overflow to run down the sides in a thin layer. The honeybees LOVE it, there are hundreds each hour that come to rehydrate in the summer heat whole also carrying a little surface tension ball of water back to the hive to refresh to queen and her ‘court’. Occasionally there have been so many they a practically swarming. It’s a genuine thrill to contribute to their welfare and comfort. They facilitate our survival more than most realise. So if you live in a warm locale and have a garden, the bees will be grateful if you wish to invest in something similar.
Sadly there are a number of bees at the end stage of their incredible dear little lives that stay at the birdbath to rest eternally. Too exhausted they remain cool, hydrated and I hope, comfortable until the end. That even is fulfilling, knowing many of them can meet their natural end rested and not overheating and thirsty.
Thank you again for your wonderful article. Best regards from the antipodes ü