I did a post on Garden Walk Garden Talk a while back called The Monarda Speaks. It is a very popular post searched daily on GWGT. In this post I am not going to get into the horticultural aspect of Monarda, but rather just show you the tiny visitors. If you saw my post on Hummingbirds in the Garden recently, they were all visiting Monarda. Granted hummingbirds are more interesting than bees and wasps, but considering how pollinators have been on the decline worldwide, seeing the bees busy at a plant they like is a good thing to see.
Bee on Monarda
Bee on Monarda
Bee on Monarda
Bee on Monarda
Bee on Monarda
Wasp on Monarda
Wasp on Monarda
Oh, wasps like it too!
Love the bright color with all the perfect close-ups!
Notice how the short tongued bees are cheating and ‘nectar robbing’ at the base of the blooms and shirking their pollination duties. The long tubes of monarda are suited more for hummingbirds who go in from the front where the pollen is. The bees do the same thing to my phlox.
Thanks for adding this Frank. The Carpenter Bees are the worst at nectar robbing drilling holes at the base. The honeybees come in and make use of the pre-drilled holes. If I were the flower, I might scold these bees, but I see very many Carpenter bees loaded with pollen from the Monarda. I think Monarda produces pollen excessively just to combat nectar robbing. I have images from previous years where the bees had so much pollen they were completely coated and losing it in flight.
I tried figuring out bees this summer and made little headway. So much to learn!
The one thing I found was that all the big fat bees (robbing nectar like you said) were carpenter bees and not drones like I thought… but then I read about all the different types of bumblebees and I gave up overwhelmed!
… and then I found out about cuckoo bees, never even heard of them.
I love to see bee shots–I can never get enough of them (and yours are wonderfully detailed). Like one of your other readers, I am amazed at the number of different types of bees, not to mention bee-mimics, and other flying insects that hover around flowers.
There are many different sorts of bees and they are different all over the world but that counts for every kind of insects. I think beetles have most species.
You might like my blog aswell, specialy this link http://sandrabrennand.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/tijdelijk-niet-leverbaar/
Here I explaine how interaction works between bees and flowers. I wrote it in Dutch so you have to translate it by google.
Thanks Mike, insects really outnumber us. Bees, at least the native ones, seem to be rebounding here a slight bit.
Lovely shots. I’ll bet the hummingbirds really go for those flowers. I’ve been having fun photographing bees this summer – they’re more cooperative than the birds.
They do. Hummingbirds are not always tolerant of humans though. Once they get accostomed to the gardener, they come around when in the garden.
It is nice to have flowers that attrack many insects and even birds. Nice pictures!!
Thank you. I plant just for the insects and birds. My other blog, http://gardenwalkgardentalk.com is a very bird centric blog. All winter long it is birds and birds in snow. I am a member of two bird watching groups and do post birds often. Gardening, insects and birds all go nicely together.
I love the shot of the wasp. Great photos!
Thanks, Connie.
There never can br too many bee pictures for me. ty. Love the fuzzy wuzzy carpenter and the wasp, too. I finally saw my first wasp this year. Hurrah! We used to have such large colonies but they inexplicably disappeared. I hopw this means a return to normal.
One wasp? I have lots of them to send your way. Even hornets this year shown on GWGT.
That beautiful flower has so many visitors!!! 🙂 Great shots, Donna!! 🙂
Thank you Marina. I do love the bees.
My monarda is covered daily by pollinators, butterflies and hummers…and the bees outnumber everyone…even with the wisps that are left they are sucking out everything they can.