Thank god for small favors, eh? It's an ill wind that blows no good, so they say, though that has nothing at all to do with our own Ill-Mannered Ache. (Still trying to find the Tennessee Williams moment where Blanche DuBoise poses dramatically with pale hand against paler forehead, and bemoans her painful, ill-mannered ache.)

Checking out that article shortly. Thanks for sharing, Ill-Man!

Marcia

Thank you so much for the link.....

Our shaving brush tree just stopped blooming
and there were TONS of bees on it :)

Funny you should mention bees - my yard is a buzz. The other day, I saw some bees go in holes in an old stump in the back yard that I built a circle garden around. They seemed nice enough. We worked out there together - I pulled weeds and they pollinated my flowers. Yesterday there was a swarm on the side of our house and we had 2 inside. Today the bottle brush were full of BIG bees. I think the big bees might be carpenter bees. Today, we have a lot of yellow jackets by the circle garden - not too happy about those.
cute little bee...
{{gwi:834562}}
Possibly a carpenter bee...
{{gwi:834565}}
Yellow jacket?
{{gwi:834567}}

Yes I have noticed lots of bees this year. Although I think that might be due in part to the fact that I have planted a good number of bee-attracting plants in the past year. They can hang out at my place... just not in the house, guys ;)

Atreelady, I'm not sure that's a yellow jacket, though it IS a type of wasp. But look, he's busy pollenating, like a good little garden visitor. Lovely pictures! It does look like you have a carpenter bee there, with his shiny black abdomen, and a honeybee, too. Wooohooo!

Thanks for sharing!

Marcia

We have also had a lot of bees. Unfortunately, I know some of them are the Africanized bees (a LARGE nest was removed from the neighbors' dying tree a couple of years ago).

I am curious what type of wasp is on the milkweed. I've seen them as well and am hoping it's not the one that parasitizes the monarch cats.

I too have had more bees this year. However, that pay be due in part to planting more flowers ;)
Ladywingr, how can you tell they're the African bees? I can't say I would know the difference.

I believe the wasp in question is a species of paper wasp, similar to these shown here. They are often lighter colored when they first emerge, then darken a bit.

For comparison, a yellow jacket has a body shaped more like a bee than a wasp, to my eyes, with a shorter and less defined "waist", and has more evenly spaced stripes. It just somehow looks different to me.

Marcia

I haven't noticed too many bees around my house right now but whenever my large false rosemary/scrub mint is in bloom it's covered in all kinds of bees. Just the other day I did see a large bumblebee resting on a leaf of my torch lily.

As long as the bees mind their manners they are a welcome addition to my yard. I saw a honey/bumblebee on my nasturtium over the weekend as well as a few other species on my other plants. I'm not very good at IDing bees. I have noticed that there is always a giant black and yellow bee on my mealy cup sage. It will painstakingly go up and down every flower stalk. I'm guessing I don't see other bees there because that's it's turf.

Wasps however have a nasty habit of making nests on the undersides of the leaves of my ti plants and then ambushing me when I'm working on them. Very aggresive these Florida wasps. I'm sad to say I'm not very fond of them.

Vaodiva - From my studies I have found the following: The Africanized bees are more aggressive than the European bees. They are very territorial, protective of their area and will kill the queen of a European colony to take over a hive. Their physical appearance is the same as the European bees, their actions are the difference. After watching the swarm across the street when the tree was taken down (the bees chased the tree trimmer down the block) and the movement of the colony a couple of days after the tree was down (a very loud and large swarm overhead), I now presume that what I see are the Africanized bees and take due care in the garden.

My daughter told me of someone who had bees take up residence in the walls of her house. She called a bee keeper and he told her he couldn't do anything. My daughter advised her to call Fla University extension center. She said you could actually smell the honey in the house.

Haven't seen many bees, but the syrphid flies have taken a real liking to my lemon grass. Last year it was the purple leaf plum. Wonder what's next? I love those little guys. You can just stand there in the swarm, and they never touch you.

Thanks for the id Marcia. I was wondering if I had wasps. They acted like wasps, but they were so yellow. They kept going under my primrose leaves. Ohafromfl, after you mentioned wasps nesting under plant leaves, I will have to me alert when weeding there. Anyway, all my buzzing helpers are being nice so far.