Monday, June 3, 2013

Bees and Wasps

 Hopefully we all have honey bees in our gardens and we also recognize their importance.

You may also notice wasps in your garden and have even tried to trap or eliminate them.
But did you know that "Wasps are so adept at controlling pest populations that the agriculture industry now regularly deploys them to protect crops."  From National Geographic.


I've often wondered why wasps ever visit flowers.  According to this Colorado University website, "Male wasps occasionally visit flowers to feed on nectar, however, social wasps are generally not important plant pollinators.
All social wasps are capable of producing a painful sting but none leave the stinger embedded, as do honey bee workers. Most stings occur when the colony is accidentally disturbed."

In our garden we attempt to keep peace with the wasps and avoid them to allow them to do their work.



This one was especially interested in this peony bloom.




Honey bee on a wisteria bloom.


Another bee on a poppy.



And finally this one enjoying a bluet flower.



8 comments:

Rosemary said...

Love to see bees in the garden and not afraid of wasps , just leave them alone to do their thing.

GRACE PETERSON said...

Excellent photography skills, Victoria. We have Mason bees in the spring. Then honeybee and bumblebees and a bunch of bees I can't identify. The wasps make paper open nests under our eves. I try not to get scared of them. :) Yellow jackets are the ones I despise. So far I haven't seen too many of them. I know they all have a purpose and I try to respect them. However, we've got tiny sugar ant issues that make me want to grab the poison and let loose. So annoying!

garden girl said...

Such wonderful bee and wasp photos!

Chris said...

Love these bee close-ups!

Goneferalinidaho said...

That last photo should be framed and hung on a wall. I love the color.

Jennifer AKA keewee said...

I leave the wasps alone as long as they do not bother me. A friend asked if we would allow a friend of hers to place a few beehives on our property, we have not heard back. I would love to have bees here on our 10 acres, especially since the deal involved us receiving a jar of honey in exchange, and of course all the pollination the bees would do, would benefit our gardens.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Gorgeous photos! I am right there with you hoping the best for honeybees and letting wasps do their work. I wrote an article for the Eagle Informer last month on the importance of honeybees and amping up bee-specific flower power to help native bee and bumblebee populations. Hope all is well... :)

TeachinIdaho said...

Great bee and wasp pictures! We lived along Riverside State Park in the Spokane area before moving to Idaho. The state released yellow jackets to combat a pine beetle in the forests of the park. Unfortunately it made for tough summers for us. So many yellow jacket nests to combat in our deck. Me, the kids and even the dogs would get stung if we hung out much in our backyard :(