Leaf-Cutter Bee in action

Leaf-cutter bee working in my bee box :)

Bee Condo July 2012

Native bees don't make honey but are important pollinators for flowers, herbs and some crops, such as fruit trees, tomatoes, zucchinis, squash, and much more.

The cell walls are made of overlapping oval leaf pieces and capped with circular pieces. Cells are placed one in front of other until the cavity is filled. Each cell is filled with pollen for the growing larva.
  

The leaf-cutter bee is equipped with very strong chewing mandibles which she uses to bite through the leaves. It only takes one or two seconds for her to complete this.

Bee Condo is Active!

I built this Bee Condo in 2012 and mounted it in the garden. It seems to have attracted alot of activity!
Bee's are amazing pollinators...

Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in ecosystems that contain flowering plants. Bees either focus on gathering nectar or on gathering pollen depending on demand, especially in social species. Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, especially the domesticated European honey bee. Contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries.

There are about 800 different kinds of bees in Canada.

Pollinators (mostly bees) are needed for more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species. 

Flowers that are visited more often by bees will produce larger and more uniform fruit than those visited less often. This beneficial effect of pollination is most obvious in tree fruit.

When a bee collects nectar and pollen from the flower of a plant, some pollen from the stamens—the male reproductive organ of the flower—sticks to the hairs of her body. When she visits the next flower, some of this pollen is rubbed off onto the stigma, or tip of the pistil—the female reproductive organ of the flower. When this happens, fertilization is possible, and a fruit, carrying seeds, can develop.

Grasses and grains, and a few nuts, which are wind pollinated would still be available without bees, but there simply would not be enough food because bees do more pollination than any other kind of pollinator.

Increasing the number of solitary bees will not only help the bees but will also help our gardens grow!

Is it me or is this bee smiling?