Great Sunflower Project

Great Sunflower Project
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

I am taking part in the Great Sunflower Project; counting bees that visit my Lemon Queen sunflowers. I observe for half an hour or 5 bee visits to a flower, whichever comes first. Go to www.greatsunflower.org for more info. They don't ask you to do a huge amount of observations. They are gathering bee observation data from all over the world. Did you know that bees are responsible for every third bite of food that you eat? They visit a lot more than sunflowers in my garden beds! Here is one on the Russian Sage that borders our driveway and always wants to flop. Someone, me, most likely, will probably get stung eventually because it is so easy to brush against the sage when getting in or out of the car.

And my Zinnias are absolutely stunning this year and the bees are taking notice.

But the absolute favorite spot for the honey bees in our yard is the oregano. they have been working this huge mound in the rockery for a good two months or more. From dawn to dusk there are literally dozens of bees buzzing away on blossoms that look spent to us but certainly are appealing to bees.