Ward, I’m worried about the bees . . .
I’ve had mason bee houses for many years now and the adults have always, without fail, emerged by this time of year, and usually by the end of March. I worry that our bizarre winter weather in Portland killed them. In addition, I haven’t seen any new ones (from somewhere outside of my yard) gravitate to any of my empty homes. Where are the mason bees this year? Have you seen them?
I have yet to see any bees myself??? We live 1/2 way from your house to Seattle. I would like to know if you have any good ideas for flowering native plants I could put out for the bees??
Thank you.
Hi Kim,
Many of my bees finally emerged about a week ago — much later than in years past. There are still plenty of filled holes and I suspect a bunch of them didn’t survive the storm in December.
I’ve never planted anything with the bees in mind, but I do have a lot of natives growing, like Sweet Woodruff, which is an excellent groundcover. The bees have always just showed up. I have dogwood and flowering cherry which tend to bloom right around the time I see the bees, but I don’t think either’s native.
Let us know if your bees appear soon . . . and thanks!
I talked to my spouse tonight and he said he had seen some in the last week, only a few…
I did find a web for seeds and have 5 pkts of seeds that are good for bees, butterflys and hummingbirds on there way…I hope it works!
Thank you for your time!
Kim