Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hive Heroine

I suppose if you just have to have a dinner out and the only place in town that is open is pretty bad but you go anyway could be the analogous situation to yesterday's sight.

Honeybee on Bellis perennis

 Yesterday while covering the roses for the winter (despite the warm temps and unfrozen earth, but not willing to wait any longer) I found a honeybee, one single bee, foraging on little daisies, the underplanting of the shrubs.


Bellis perennis, or common daisy, native to Europe, still insists on blooming ( and has spread by germinating seeds in this bed otherwise dedicated to a selection of David Austin roses) into December. This charming little flower has naturalized in parts of the country.  I love the look of it in the lawn as seen last summer in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle.

Bellis carpet
Bellis daisies
 I never saw any insect on these plants all summer, perhaps merely by coincidence but you might think that with all the time I am looking and working around, I might have seen something. Not one, not until today.  One honeybee made two trips, and the second visit for sure she went home laden with pollen.  She didn't advertise her unseasonal windfall.  Maybe it just wasn't worth it.  Her hive sisters and neighbors were busy at the birdbath, collecting water....

Afternoon at the Birdbath Bar!
  Meanwhile, the one dedicated worker found something, maybe not the best, but better than nothing, something to bring home.  Bellissima!



1 comment:

  1. lovely photos. these bees are a wee-bit too busy. I assume at some point this month it will actually get cold out??

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