The bumblebees are out in droves (or should I say drones) in my garden. It's pretty much the height of bee season and these guys have been working nonstop. It is my understanding that certain species are in decline for a variety of reasons including habitat destruction, climate change and pesticide damage. I do everything I can to welcome them to my little space by planting a variety of flowers that might be of interest to them. My most popular plantings appear to be the penstemon (shown above) and agastache. I also see several hovering daily around the zinnia (photos below) and gaura.
The most astonishing thing to me about bumblebees is that they can fly at all. It's clear that they are not the most aerodynamically constructed creatures in nature but I guess they don't know that and they just buzz along, minding their own business and collecting pollen. Which leads me to my next point, they do mind their own business--they are not out to attack you, in fact, they are not, by nature, aggressive. They will not go on the defensive unless threatened so if you have one hovering around you, best not to start flailing your arms around. Instead, allow them the chance to smell that you are not a flower and they will go along their merry way. I'm out in my garden watering every day and my bumblebees fly all around me and I've not yet had an incident. I just let them be. (I can never resist a pun).
Bookshelf: Container Gardening Books
I rather enjoy having them buzzing about me. It's a warm, sleepy sound. In one of your recent posts I saw your deck as it was and then as it became. I thought "from chaos to serenity". I found you on Blotanical and came over to read awhile. You have a very good blog. I would suspect that container gardening would have most of the usual gardening problems and challenges, plus those of its own. Yours is lovely.
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