October bees

I'm happy to report that even though it's October there is still bee activity.

*bee at nest entrance*

I looked around the gardens to find out what they are foraging on...

*salvia subrotunda*

*honeycomb butterfly bush*

*marigold*

*perennial salvia "Blue Bedder"*

I also found them on the zinnias, salvia splendens, Apricot Sprite & Apache Sunset hyssops and the first native aster blooms.  There is also some of the little blue flowers they favor: not only the blue salvia pictured, but the re-blooming lavenders, the non-stop Walker's Low cat mint and some very tiny new buds on the anise agastache.

And where they are not....

*autumn joy sedum*

*spotted horsemint (m. punctata)

The lack of traffic on the spotted horsemint isn't all that surprising.  The plants only started blooming in the past 2 weeks, much later than last year.  Even then it only attracted large wasps and carpenter bees.  Once again I'll reconsider if I'll even grow it next year.

What is really surprising is the lack of bees on the Autumn Joy sedums!  I have dozens of clumps in the gardens and the blooms this year are amazingly dark and dense.  But even when they started to bloom in mid-September there was very little traffic which quickly dwindled to none.  No bees on my sedums.  No bees at the neighbor's or my Mom's Autumn Joys (all equally splendid this year).  I've never seen sedums so gorgeous and so not loaded with all kinds of bees.  What's the deal?

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