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["Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>]



I think I may have partially solved my mysterious lack of bees this spring. I was out mowing the perimeter of my pasture yesterday, and noticed that the bush honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii, is more rampant than ever, and there must be millions of blooms out just within a few acres of woods. Sure enough, the various wild bees I usually see were on these flowers. I still have not seen honey bees, and the numbers of others seem a bit low, but they may just be spread thin across these millions of flowers. This appears to be yet another trick in the arsenal of this highly invasive plant allowing it to out-compete the natives by drawing in all the pollinating insects.

 

Hal

TN