Native Pollinators

 

I've been into bees for awhile, but only just started to understand how many different kinds there are.  I knew my old garden, pictured above, was a healthy living thing when I could feel it buzzing with bug life.  Upon closer inspection, I noticed the buzzing-ones were all sorts of bees.  They'd be huge, like the Valley Carpenter Bee, or tiny, like a Sweat Bee.  I was even seeing some beautiful zebra striped ones in black and white, which I believe are Plasterer Bees (I'm still learning).  They are all really difficult to get pictures of with a point-and-shoot, so my images are limited.  I do know that many of these are ground bees, whose little homes spot the garden like above.

These bees are not just flying stingers.  In fact, some don't even sting and it's the European Honey Bee that's the worst offender in terms of stings.  These native pollinators are extremely important for the plants and other animal life.  I understand the Honey Bee has had some issues in the past few years, but we should really encourage more of the native bees.   The best resource I've found for this is this book, Attracting Native Pollinators by the Xerces Society.  It really opened my eyes to the wonderful selection of helpful bugs.