Respectful, fascinated, or afraid? Those three words probably cover most of us when the subject of bees is brought up. Many are able to live and let live while some are extremely allergic and an interaction requires medical attention quickly.
As a gardener, I’m lucky that I’m not allergic because I’m usually bitten each gardening season because I unintentionally ventured too close.
By now, you may be wondering why I’m going on about bees besides the basic fact of ‘no bees, no food.”
A talented local metal sculptor I know displayed a large bee in a town garden last summer. Every time I passed by I smiled at that bee.
Last fall, I asked him to make me a small version of his ‘Buzz.’
I picked her up last Friday, and I’ve already moved her a couple of times.
I’m waiting for the garden to come to life including large containers before I decide where she’ll reside for the summer.
Gardening is a passion for me, but it is also a lot of work so once in a while it’s fun to add something to the garden that doesn’t require maintenance or fertilizer and always brings a smile when you see it.
Speaking of work, I had to move in a garden bed after a survey showed I was over on the neighbor’s property. Whoops, I never could draw a straight line. 🙂 Pulling up 100′ of edging, landscape fabric, and wood chips, reinstalling, and shoveling soil and raking to level the space in her yard took me two days, and I was certainly glad to check that task off my spring to-do list.
It’s still too early to complete a lot of tasks outside, but I have planted some lettuce and carrots and kept mentally occupied with seedlings indoors.
I’ll leave you with a few photos and hope April is treating you well. From the bottom of my heart – Welcome Spring!
For those nerdy folks like myself who would like more information about bees, this article, Bee Basics by the USDA Forest Service, is quite comprehensive.
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
I like the sculpture and I like the cookies. I am fascinated, yet respectful, of bees. They’re fun to watch flitting around the flowers in the garden. I try to invite them here, then let them do their thing… over there.
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Yes, those words work well – fascinating and respectful. I love seeing them bopping around the plants, appreciate the work they do, but I do give them space.
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I LOVE your bee sculpture! Perfect for your garden. What are you going to name her?
All your plants are definitely thriving and that must make you happy. Those fresh eggs are beautiful. I’ve never had a “fresh” egg.
I feel like a slug comparing what you accomplish and what I accomplish. I am definitely slowing down as I age. I think I was a sloth in another life! 🤗
Ginger
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Sweet new sculpture, Judy. Definitely smile-worthy. Does she make hummingbirds? 🙂
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I just emailed him to get more info. I know he makes a butterfly, and I’m pretty sure he has a hummingbird.
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Thanks, let me know, much appreciated!
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I love bees even without considering their vital link to our food supply. They are so cute and industrious! Our family is fortunate to not have allergic members, so that helps. I want you to know that it was you who educated me about ways to ensure their survival….leaving dandelions alone in early spring, for example. Whenever I see one bumping about inside a flower, I think back to Debra’s stunning close up photos. And then I chuckle at my own attempts…portraits of black jelly beans!
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Yes, years ago I would have run out and dug up any dandelion daring to bloom in my lawn. Now, I look out and think ‘oh, some yellow flowers for the bees.’ 🙂 I love to watch the big bumble bees at work later in the season, and they don’t care if you are working nearby. Debra is an exceptional photographer, and I’ve had many of those black jelly beans myself.
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What a wonderful post! Those cookies look like real Tollhouse — are they? They’re gorgeous! I fear I will gush because everything in this post was an uplift. Your seedlings, the eggs, the buds, all beautifully showcased here. I especially loved your praise of that sculpture as something that didn’t have to be fertilized or maintained but is a cheery part of the garden. As for that two-day job of moving off your neighbor’s land, I can only send sympathy. Maybe liniment? How you did all that and baked perfect cookies is beyond me. You know how to bring beauty to life. Thanks!
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Yes, they were Tollhouse, and I availed myself of several after those two work days. I had to use ice packs both nights and the next day to get my back to what I call normal. That bee just makes me smile. I do think now I may need to paint a couple of pots bright yellow to go with him. Speaking of bright yellow, there is nothing like the yolk of a farm-fresh egg. Happy Monday, Maureen.
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I can only imagine that yellow, and I think that should be the exact color of those pots! I admire a true Tollhouse — too many people think those are mere chocolate chip cookies, but Tollhouse cookies are so much more. Yes, you earned “several,” even if that meant the whole pile! I can believe about the ice packs!
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Lovely shots of Spring lovelies (and of timeless cookies)! We’ve hosted numerous bee nests over the years, but had a problem with them last summer and fall — very aggressive in 2 areas (one used daily), and the sting was fierce even for adults. I hope the bees will locate this year to where we can all do our thing out there in peace.
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Yes, ‘sharing’ the outdoors is a good thing, but when they take up residence and you can’t move around freely, that’s another. We had a huge wasp nest one year which required detouring around. That was annoying for weeks after the sting of the bite had gone away. The yellow jacket nests right in the middle of a garden bed aren’t too much fun either. Happy gardening this spring without any bites.
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Love your queen bee!
I was going to put some lettuce starts out yesterday, but didn’t get around to it. This encourages me to go looking for little sprouts in the garden, and get those lettuce and peas planted!
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Happy planting! I’m guessing your produce will find its way into an amazing recipe too.
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Thank you! Got the lettuce starts in, and I planted peas! Felt good to ruin my manicure!
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I like your 3D bee.
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Thank you, John. It would look good surrounded by your beautiful daylilies too!
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Love your bee! I have to be careful around them, as I am allergic. That being said, I plant to encoourage them, as does my neighbor. Too bad your neighbor couldn’t just enjoy the “free” garden.
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Oh, I’m sorry you are allergic. I have a friend who carries an EpiPen for allergies. My neighbor is one of those you file under the category ‘unique’ so I knew I needed to get that pulled back once I saw the new property stake. Neighbors are always interesting. I’m glad your is in a good way.
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I also have an epipen, and fortunately have never had to use it. It’s really nice to have an organic gardener as a neighbor!
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I adore garden ornaments, and your bee is fabulous. Will she have a name? I know not everyone likes to name inanimate objects the way I do. 😉 Wonderful photos. Those cookies sure made my mouth water. And how lovely those eggs are in such a pretty little basket.
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The sculptor calls it ‘Little Buzz’, but I’ve been thinking about calling her Honey Bee. What do you think? I froze part of that batch of cookies so I could pull one out when I ‘needed’ one. 🙂 There is absolutely nothing as wonderful as a farm-fresh egg, and my daughter made that pretty basket.
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I guess I would go with Little Buzz because of the zippy nature of the name, but Honey Bee is a sweet one, too. 😉 Wise to freeze part of that batch. After all, you never know when you are going to need a chocolate chip cookie.
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I love your bee sculpture! I have a neighbor who has bee hives and up until a few years ago I had honey bees is the garden. After two hurricanes wiped out his bees he is still trying to get the hives producing again. So sorry about you having to move part of your garden.
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Honey bees in the garden would be fun, and I wish your neighbor the best of luck. I have a friend here in town who is down to two hives right now, but it is challenging with various hive related issues and the fact that they can leave home whenever they want. Moving that part of the garden was two days of back breaking work. I am darn glad it is done because I’m having to accept I’m a little long in the tooth for that kind of labor. 🙂
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The sculpture is nest. I like it. Having to relocate a garden bed had to be a pain. Our new neighbors were working in their yard this weekend. They dug up some short fence poles. I told the the previous owner had a survey and those were the boundary markers. The guy said he didn’t care. I guess my fence is the market now 🙁
I hope you have a nice week and get some warm weather.
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Neat
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I’m definitely liking your neighbor’s attitude because it makes for a better relationship and a lot less work. I’ve been working outside as much as I can, but you can never push spring, we have to just let it evolve.
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We are seeing nice signs of live, here. Spring is coming at its own pace.
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Loving the happy yellow bee garden art Judy. I have a metal bee garden art too, albeit a little different. Bees and I have an arrangement. I invite them with all kinds of tantalizing treats and they do as they please, hah! Every once in a great while, I’ll not pay attention and get stung. I’m slightly allergic but not so bad I require an epi pen thankfully. My mom always had Vick’s Vapor Rub around for stings and I can attest to it working fast especially on wasp stings. I’m barely walking today myself from working in my gardens all of yesterday. Funny the older I get, the better flowering bushes sound.
On another note, my friend Tom Wintczak is a potter and has his studio called Bee Tree Pottery. When he and his wife Ruth moved to the property, it had massive bee trees. Which if I remember right is just swarms of bees in a tree. Like hundreds if not thousands of them. I think I’d leave those alone.
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I didn’t know about Vick’s Vapor Rub, so thank you for that. Yes, each year the number of hours you can spend doing major labor in the garden seems to decrease a little and the number of ice packs needed increases. 🙂 I looked up your friend, and he has some serious skills. I would definitely leave a swarm of bees alone that is for sure. It probably would be good to have the local beekeeping group’s number in our contacts list. I think I’ll do that right now so thank you for that also.
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Oh I’m so glad you looked up Tom. Yes, his work is incredible and I’m lucky enough to have a few pieces. Tom and Ruth’s gardens are spectacular, too. I did a post on them a few years ago.
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I love seeing bees, I love the bee sculpture, and I love the eggs (and the rest of the post as well.) One of these days soon I’m going to post about my gardening/landscaping endeavors/adventures which are, as you might imagine, very different from yours. 🙂
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I will look forward to hearing all about it. It will probably include tomatoes in January at which point I’ll be green with envy. 🙂
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Not quite that but still pretty early because if not, they become dried tomatoes and not the edible sort!
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My walking iris is still flowering too. I think it really likes the spring light. I have a couple more flowers coming. I love coming into the kitchen in the morning and finding a new flower.
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It really makes me smile too. It’s always funny to watch the plant that spent a couple of months in a 50 degree house. I guess it thaws out and decides to bloom in that spring light.
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I love the Bee! It will be a nice addition to your yard!
And yes… I am in the I love Bees category. We need them.
I see your forsythia cuttings are coming along nicely.
I’m sorry for having to move your garden.
Have a great week. Now I want a chocolate chip cookie!
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Chocolate chip cookies at the ready is always a good thing.
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Your new bee is lovely. If I was your neighbour and had your garden bed accidentally in my yard, I’d be thrilled. It must have been beautiful. Oh well, I suppose you’ve got it to yourself now. Because of the huge amounts of rain we’ve had so far this year, everything is flowering like crazy. This is great, except it’s very difficult to do any deadheading because there are bees everywhere. I just tell myself this is a good thing and try to get out there very early or just before sunset when the bees aren’t so active.
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At one time or other, we all have a ‘unique’ neighbor. This is mine, and I knew from experience, I’d better get that bed moved over. 🙂 It is kind of funny that she does not have one plant in her back yard but gets to enjoy all of mine. 🙂
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You would think she’d be thrilled to have a lovely garden bed on her property with someone who was happy to look after it.
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I love garden sculptures and your new bee is just perfect! I never get her stings, but a rare wasp sting is awful enough. The bumble bees are my faves.
A drag you had to move your garden, but I do understand that boundaries must be respected – there can be legal ramifications (unfortunately).
Enjoy all the sprouting of spring! (I got some seeds in last week. Asparagus and rhubarb coming up.)
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Yes, boundaries must be respected, and I’m glad that task is behind me. I keep checking my asparagus but nothing so far. We’ve had a lot of rainy and gray days. We need some sunshine. My seedlings indoors are sure growing under the lights. Happy spring!
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I love bees, and I think (I hope) people are starting to recognise how essential they are for our survival…when I was younger, a bee was just something annoying that might sting us!
Happy gardening, I love your choc-chips cookies, I could eat one of those anytime!
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Yes, when I was younger I always thought they were just pesky things that could bite me. Now, I realize how critical their work is for all of us to survive. I’m with you – chocolate chip cookies any day. 🙂
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I love bees of all kinds, including sculptural! The egg colors are so lovely. We are having some avian flu hitting backyard flocks over here, so it’s hard on those raising chickens, because they are having to try to keep them inside to lessen potential exposure. Has it hit in your area, too?
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Yes, it is a big problem here. In our town, they found 70 wild geese that tested positive and were found dead. It’s definitely not a good thing. My daughter keeps chickens and ducks for eggs, and thankfully that are not free range.
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I get extra credit because I decided to read the USDA report, which is indeed comprehensive! But its conclusions are critical: These animals help us all and deserve our help to survive. Also, I’m going to try to steer clear of the “mouthparts” so clearly illustrated! 😉 Your sculpture is neato-keen; just don’t forget to bring it in as next winter approaches! Oh, and those scrumptious cookies for the win. – Marty
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Look at you, reading that for extra credit. Go, Marty! Yes, the bumble bees I can be right next to when working outside, but some of the others, I need to clear out until they are finished with their tasks. I will have to bring it in for the winter. In the spring, I haul it all out, and in the later fall, I haul it all in. 🙂
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Love your new art. And that photo of the lilac bud! You might want to double check the wisteria isn’t the Chinese kind, very invasive.
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Good comment. I looked them up and right now based upon the pods, I’d say it is the Japanese variety because the pods were fuzzy. They are at a point where I can insert a support and double check how it climbs.
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Not be a busy-body but both are invasive here in NC. I have loved it all my life and I can’t help but enjoy it (just starting to flower here), but it’s aggressive to say the least. 😉
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I appreciate your input. I’ve been reading about how to prune it into a tree form versus a vine and have giving that some thought.
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I love your new Bee garden sculpture! She’d make anyone smile I think. Wow, that was a lot of work to move that bed. I love Wisteria. When I was a girl we had a large one that covered the patio. It made my outdoor birthday parties ever so festive and pretty!
We had snow almost all day on Monday down here in the valley, but my lawn is green again. Our Fire Maple tree should be showing signs of waking up soon. I’m looking forward to that and my Day Lilies are growing their leaves pretty fast it seemed like over night they sprang out!
Happy Spring, Judy!
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Happy Spring to you too, Debra. We have rain for part of almost every day, but no snow thank goodness. My day lilies are starting to come up too.
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😀🌼
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Oh, Judy! Your bee sculpture will be a wonderful addition to your garden! It just makes my heart smile! All of your seedlings are thriving with your expert care. What a project you had moving your garden bed! Ugh! I can’t believe that you were able to complete such a big garden project in only two days. Homemade chocolate chip cookies to the rescue.😊
Your eggs are the most soft, lovely colors, Judy. Wishing you and your family many Easter blessings! Stay safe and healthy, my friend!💗
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Yellow bee has required me to look at yellow plants and at this point those would be shrubs. 🙂 The eggs are not only extremely delicious but when you crack a green egg, the inside is a beautiful soft blue. They truly are works of art. I hope you had a nice weekend too, Dawn.
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From your photos, I can see that “spring is bustin out all over”. Having had an apple orchard truly makes you appreciate bees and their necessity. We were lucky that we had neighbors with hives right down the road. We got apples because of their bees and they got apple blossom honey because of the blossoms on our apple trees each spring.
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Now, that’s a win-win. Spring is trying although it was 29°F when I made coffee this morning, but the sun is out now. I haven’t seen a daffodil or tulip blossom yet but have my fingers crossed.
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I have conversations with our bees all the time (as well as with the lizards). They don’t seem to mind listening to me as long as I let them go about their business… which I do. Their hard work bring us lemons, oranges, blueberries, tomatoes, pineapple guavas, as well as beautiful flowers. I love your bee sculpture: art in the garden makes me happy.
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We have our first dandelions, and I leave them there for the bees. I haven’t seen any yet, but I’m looking.
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