A few weeks ago for my birthday, my sister Amy gave me a Mason Bee house. I've seen these bee houses in gardening magazines and on the Internet and thought they looked interesting. I'm fascinated with bees of all types and loved receiving this gift. Mason bees are not aggressive and are super pollinators - I've read that one Mason Bee can do the pollinating work of a thousand honey bees. With all of the flowers I have in my yard, I have lots of bees and other insects. Now that I've seen a picture of a Mason Bee (they are green blue in color and not striped yellow and black - what you typically think of when you think bees) I will keep my eyes open for them. From what I've read about them, they only appear in the spring, but this has been a strange weather and gardening year, so maybe they are still around. In the spring when the mason bees come out of hibernation, they mate and the female lays her eggs in woody crevices she finds. A Mason Bee house gives the Mason Bee a place to lay their eggs. The bees who hatch are likely to stay in the area, so hopefully I can increase my bee population even more.
An update on my last post - I have two delphiniums that have re bloomed! I was so excited and happy to see the new blooms. They are smaller blooms than the originals, but lovely none the less.
Dear Happy Gardener. I'm glad to see you trying things out with mason bees. What are your results?
ReplyDeleteAn important thought... you need to harvest your mason bees to ensure you're controlling the pests. Look to http://www.crownbees.com to see what to do.
Glad you're out there doing this! I think you're more than likely to find the Japanese Orchard Bee than you will the Blue Orchard Bee in your area... although an invasive species, it is fairly established now and quite productive!
Dave Hunter, Owner
Crown Bees
Thanks Dave. I'm looking forward to seeing what shows up this spring!
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