Bee-autiful!

While it is still very early in the bee-season here (after all, the bird bath froze solid earlier in the week!) there is some bee activity. At first I thought I had been blessed with an abundance of BUMBLE BEES. But when I followed them around I discovered they were really pesky CARPENTER BEES and they were doing a real number on my garden shed. Holes everywhere!

I have seen some hover flies since the crabapples finished blooming, but not actually on any of the few perennials that are in flower. Right now I can see perennial geranium, dianthus (pinks), lupine, columbine, fuchsia, false indigo and some early rhodies. And then there are the zonal geraniums I potted up a few months ago from dormant roots. They are in bloom too but, honestly, they never seem to attract insects of any kind. Even the hummingbird flies right past them, preferring the fuchsia. (To that effect I'm growing only a few zonals this year, replacing them in flower boxes with short varieties of zinnias. Zins get lots of action!)

I did spot a couple of butterflies: a tiger swallowtail, and a very small (unidentified) dusky-colored one. But unless I start wearing my camera around my neck, they don't wait around for me to run get it. Camera shy?

So I was happy to actually have the camera on hand when I heard some buzzing around the lupines. All the noise came from this one little gal. (I couldn't tell if it was a mason bee or another solitary type of bee. Sorry. My bad. :-( ) It was hard for me to snap her pic; she was just too fast for me and seemed to be everywhere at once! I kept hoping to get a profile of her on the blossoms to show that her brilliant orange pollen sacks where just full to bursting. But, alas, this is the only pic that actually came out clear enough to see her on the flower. If you look closely you can just make out one of her fat sacks peeking out from behind her. I'm thinking she should get quite a haul. Seems she's got the run of the place right now. :-D