Cold Spring Gone?

Well, it looked like it was going to be an early spring.

Looked like.

But then the Arctic air blasted in from the frozen tundra and washed away all hopes of getting into the garden early.

Sigh.

So now I am playing catch-up, with little enthusiasm.
The dandelions are far more energetic than I.

But I'll get there. Eventually. Life is hectic.

And I'll be looking for hectic. In the form of bees.

According to the news and hive-keepers, 95% of the honey bee population in the U.S. has disappeared. This is both tragic and scary. Sad for the bees and keepers, scary as we eat what the bees pollinate. What they ingest, we ingest.

Scary.

So I'm rather impatiently waiting for a nice warm day with lots of flowers to go out and do my own unofficial bee count.

My yard attracts lots of bees.

Normally.

I get all kinds of bees. From teeny ones that you can hardly see to the huge lone bumble bees. And what I'm trying to see is if ALL of the bees have gone AWOL. There are over 4,000 different types of native bees in the United States, and I'm betting that not all of them have died or flown the coup. But I have to have sun and flowers to do my survey. Insects don't like a chill anymore than I do. And mother nature hasn't been co-operating with the warmth.

So all you gardeners out there unite! Do your own survey and tally up the bee count. There may still be pollinators out there; they just won't give us honey.

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