A new bee…every day
…for lots of reasons. But I selected it from yesterday’s batch for the pollen. That’s one of those green, metallic-looking bees that I sometimes post. But look at the yellow pollen obscuring most of the green. That was so interesting to me. Have never seen that in any of my shots yet – to that degree, anyway.
And that corn…er, cone flower again. Bumbles should be hitting those soon!
Saw this one just after the rain stopped today. It held still long enough for me to click several times. I really like the effect on the flower. Beautiful!
I really like the simplicity of this shot. Not lots going on…quite a calm, calming photograph.
The cone flowers started blooming a few days ago and they’re starting to throw a little pollen now. Shot this one yesterday early in the day – the bee was pretty inert/cooperative. Maybe that’s part of the calming sense I get when I look at the shot.
The neighbors to the east planted some russian sage and this is the first year that it’s blooming. Such a great plant for pollinators…and it’s gorgeous to shoot. One of my very favorites. Think we’ve got some somewhere, too. Will have to look today.
Yesterday I drove south to Young Living Lavender Farm and Distillery in Mona, Utah. Neat place. Great people. Interesting products, too.
Ended up buying a couple of products and even another lavender plant. Like there’s any room for that. Well, there might be. Rented a sod cutter the other day and took out the parking strip on the south side… The lawn is shrinking. Guess it will be an iris bed – among other things.
Protip: mark your sprinklers before you start your sod cutter rodeo/wrestling match. Agenda this morning: fix a sprinkler.
Oh, here’s today’s bee from the lavender farm. The light was awful, but any chunk of time with cameras in hand is a good chunk of time…
This trumpet vine belongs to a neighbor across the street. And when it blooms, it swarms with bees and wasps. Got a few nice shots today including this one. Didn’t realize that it started this early and looks like it’s been going for a week. Hoping for some good shots over the next little while. From what I recall, it blooms for at least a month – maybe more.
Seems like a heavy dragonfly year – or I’m getting lucky with them. Here’s one on a larkspur. Those have recently started going nuts. Even to the point of occluding that one blanket flower that the bees love so. Might be time to do a little unarranging there. This one sat up nicely for me…and I like the detail on the wings.
This one is admittedly a messy shot. The background is busy, the bee is partially obscured, and there’s just a whole lot going on in general.
But…it grabbed me. And it’s a good example of the marvelous order and disorder of the garden…and the world.
Apart from a good in-flight grab, I like the pollen bucket, the pollen on her face, and especially the tongue. If you look closely, you can see that it’s split at the end. The dangling legs are neat, too. Bumbles are kinda tough to shoot because darker colors (black in this case) – especially on the face and belly – are hard to get right with light and detail.
Shot a little yesterday, but I’m not sure how much I like the results…and started running out of time to post. So…
Today, you get three pretty dirty bumbles on a thistle – shot last August 31. I’ve not printed this one yet, but looks like a good candidate given the right crop. Think I got as many as five that day, but the focus wasn’t that great on the five. I like this one lots, though. Was a good day up in the mountains of Utah near Monte Cristo.
…overdose on Vitamin C. Well, apparently it’s pretty hard to do. I wonder if that’s the same for lavender…
Very busy day with a very early appointment through about sixty miles of rush hour traffic. So just getting to today’s bee (that I shot in some pretty nasty light just a few minutes ago). You, though, as a paying customer have the right to complain – or cancel your subscription. Oh, wait a minute…
So much else in bloom. I’ll get to something besides purple soon. Just need to find a bit of equilibrium. Enjoy!!!
