Literally.
Since talking about them at the gallery and coming across them in the gardens the other week they've been entering my sleepy adventures.
This native carpenter bee was as big as the end of my thumb and so fuzzy I just wanted to stroke it. 
And these little ones...the sugarbag bees....trigona carbonaria....are the ones I want to bring home to live in our garden. I've wanted my own hive of these for the longest time now. But at a few hundred dollars (because the chances and ethics involved in me finding a wild hive are slim) I still can't justify that just yet when there are so many other priorities. But luckily they do visit my garden regularly from somewhere wild in the area, along with their cousins, the blue banded bees who love to work my tomatoes when I have them growing...so I do get to enjoy their sweet little selves often enough. Just not their honey....yet.
And so this morning when I was admiring the beautiful dress my peach tree is embellishing itself with right now I noticed a lone honey bee working the blossoms. I'm not as adoring just more fearful of the honey bee I must admit. My body doesn't like it's venom very much and weeks of major swelling and pain can follow a little sting from these friends...but I felt really wistful watching his lone efforts and I appreciated his work at pollinating my flowers.
We used to have hundreds on the flowers in the front garden years ago. You could here the communal buzz from a distance. But the last few years...none.
Have you read about what's happening to the bees?
Thinking about this I snapped picture after picture (just click on them for a closer look...I really am a sucker for that fuzz!) of this fellow working almost every flower on that peach tree until he was heavy, and I mean heavy with pollen and off he flew into the blue.
It made me realise just how much we need our bees.
Thanks to them (I'm guessing/hoping) I do already have one early baby peach from my trees first winter flush of blossoms a month or so ago...and now after today hopefully soon many more.
Lets hope our bees don't just become a thing of our dreams.
I do like my peaches...and other fruit...and nuts.... and flowers....and trees...and honey.....
and I'm thinking homegrown peaches are going to be all that much sweeter.
11 comments:
Oh, isnt he a handsome fella.
I do miss bumble bees. I've never seen one in qld.
(Fade to joni mitchel)...don't it always seem to go...
gorgeous photos. i've been watching the lone bee visit our garden on sunny afternoons as well. they make me swooooooon!
I can relate to wanting to stroke the fuzzy ones. Unfortunately, they are about as cuddly as bears.
And, the bee situation makes me sad. Stephan, eventually would like to do a bit of bee keeping. They are certainly wonderful for gardens.
That native carpenter bee is so cute. They are magical aren't they. A world without bees is impossibe to comprehend. Thankfully australia is free (for now) of the colony collapse dissorder that is affecting bees in many places around the world.
what's happening to bees over here in the states is frightening. I love my bees, and I love finding others who love bees too! We have several places in our yard that solitary bees make their homes, but no hives. Honestly I am very happy with this arrangement.
We have 4 bumblebees living where my children play, they buzz around us all day - so soft and fluffy they are.
I love the honey our bees give us. Raw honey is far superior than those processed in the store. I think that with the amount of honey they give us, and we can sell it, it can make up for initial investment of purchasing some bees. It's also easy to make up a simple box which is what they do here in Dom Rep. There is nothing really complicated about it. I'm sure there are many on the internet. They are wonderful for the garden pollinating all the beautiful flowers and veg. I hope your dream is fulfilled someday.
Oh wow, another round of breathtaking photos...
I'm off to search through all I've missed here over the last few weeks.
what would we do without bees. it's only once i started to grow my own veggies that i made that connection.
i would love to have a peach tree. we had one in one of the houses we rented. there's nothing nicer than a sweet, juicy, hot peach off a tree (ours always ripened in the february heatwaves).
enjoy yours
l
x
I love the pictures with the flowers. Gorgeous!
-Ashley
I also love to see the bees working.
Beautiful pictures! The first one is a giant!!!
Yes , me too love the pictures with the flowers. Gorgeous!
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