Holy bee buzzing batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gixxerific]

I was just outside getting ready to work on my garden rehab when I hear this weird (fairly loud) noise. I'm thinking to myself that sounds like bees. Well heck yes it was bees. There must be hundreds (dare I say thousands) of bees buzzing around my willow trees. It has been 80+ the last few day's.

They are definitely awake.

Just wish I had more growing for them to munch on. Still a bit early for that, not that the wiilows have started budding a little early.

Oh well let them buzz I have work work to do.

[nedwina]

Isn't it great? I'm seeing signs o spring all over the place. The migratory birds are back, so things are all atwitter in the woods, and I saw the first cabbage looper and wasp of the season today.

[gixxerific]

Cabbage looper bad, wasps good.

There are wasp out there as well. I have been seeing them for a few weeks now some bees as well but not this many.

Oh I found something else after I posted this and went back out you should all like.

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC05593.jpg[/img]

[GardenGnome]

Bee happy in ca bees have been dying off. I saw some the other day and plant flowers to lure them.

[!potatoes!]

as long as there's something for them to eat outside the hive - waking up because of early heat with no flowers, they'd be finishing off what honey's in the hive, and then a cold snap could do real damage.

[applestar]

It's great to see the critters awakening in the garden isn't it?

No bees or wasps in my garden yet -- it always gives me a pause that gixx's location is lower in USDA Zone than mine (I.e. experiences colder winter temps) yet his last frost date is earlier and first frost date is later.

Occasional Cabbage Whites, mosquito, those black flies that comes to just turned earth, and ground beetles. Earthworms just starting to congregate around weed and grass roots but not seeing a whole lot of earthworm signs (tiny casting mounds like molehills) yet. Oh I did find two cutworms and two wireworms one slug under a bucket, and a small coiled bright green caterpillar that I couldn't ID so far in the ground. Plenty of sow bugs.

Crocuses and Violets here and there are in bloom, Creeping Charlie only when growing against masonry, and a couple of dandelions in the sunniest driest spot, so really, nothing for the bees yet. Squirrels are eating flower clusters that have fallen from the branches though -- I think they are from the Hickory tree. My hazelnut shrub is dangling catkins too.

[gixxerific]

There is a lot blooming around here. Lots of insects as well. That is both good and bad. Because with the good comes the bad. I am hoping this isn't a crazy pest year. Last year was heavy with pest I may be batteling them very hard this year.

[nedwina]

There is a lot blooming around here. Lots of insects as well. That is both good and bad. Because with the good comes the bad. I am hoping this isn't a crazy pest year. Last year was heavy with pest I may be batteling them very hard this year.

Since the winter was so mild, it may very well be a bad bug season~

Yeah, I wasn't happy to see the Looper butterfly, but due to an odd Invasive Species situation here, they're starting to be considered "at risk". (Also a bit odd, since they were an introduced species.) The Invasive Garlic Mustard that's gaining ground here has a chemical signature close to their usual host plants, so they lay their eggs on them. But when the eggs hatch, the 'pillars can't feed on it unless it's a particular time of the season. The leaf chemistry changes as summer advances, so there's just a window of time where the leaves are edible- not over the whole season. So anyway, the Looper numbers are declining. Which would be good news, but we've already lost about 10 butterfly species in the past 20 years, so any loss (even an introduced garden pest species) is not good for butterfly eaters down the chain.

It's complicated, LOL~