My large (for me. Ht. 35" width 42") Nandina domestica
forest has been blooming for about 3 weeks now. It's
interesting turning it so that its (very phototropic) leaves
turn toward the sun on another side. The bees buzz around
my head while I'm turning it 180 degrees. Sounds like a
bunch of Sopworth Camels having aerial WWI dogfight.
Luckily (in a relative sense) these bees are non-stingers.
Since the virus has wiped out ALL hiving honeybees in this
area, our pollinators are the large (almost thumbnail size)
fuzzy, black and yellow solitary bees. You have to close
your hand around them to get them to sting you.
Other pollinators we still do have include some tiny wasps,
moths, butterflies, various little fly-type critters, etc.,
but these large bees are the most obvious -- and, it seems
the only ones attracted to Nandina.
The old, tiny white flower petals are dusted over the floor
of the forrest, but not quite thick enough to look like
snow; more like a sprinkling of white flowers under the
trees. :-)
Jim Lewis - jklewis [at] nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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