Bee Weed Wednesday

I have a summer pass-time I enjoy. Photographing honey bees in my bee garden.

As we enter late August, the flowers are starting to fade but the honey bees will remain active until we clean the plants out near the end of summer.

The garden is naturally seeded with “bee weed”, scientifically known as Cleome serrulata.

The bee weed is a fairly common plant in Colorado, growing wild in many areas of the state. But, boy does it attract the honey bees. I’m doing my part to protect the bees by providing them a habitat in my back yard. We use no chemicals or pesticides in our garden. Everything grows naturally in nice garden soil.

The bee weed plant is prolific, thus the name bee weed. If you don’t manage the sprouts and pick up the seed pods, they will take over your yard. I have these plants scattered all around the back yard and have to frequently pull them from the areas I don’t want them growing.

A lot of people are afraid of bees, but they are more or less harmless to humans unless one has an allergy to their stings. Honey bees are not aggressive and will pretty much leave you alone, even if you are just feet away from them. In my garden, we get hundreds of active bees in the garden. They are most active in the early mornings after the sun has risen. Watching them do their thing is a relaxing way to start each day.

So here are a few shots of the bees in my bee garden. Photos made with different Nikon DSLR’s and lenses.

Enjoy

 

 

Though there are hundreds of bees working the flowers, seldom to more than two land on any given plant at the same time.