Another Leafcutter but on a Chocolate Daisy

Very different look at the same (species of) bee as yesterday. Great face. And that mustache. Looks like a baleen, almost. One of my favorite bees. Don’t know if I like the flowers or not. They bloom early in the day and are often closed up by the time I get to shooting. And they get ratty-looking pretty quickly. But they smell good in the morning. And really broadcast the scent.

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Honeybee on a Chocolate Daisy

A bit of a muddy picture, but I think that might add to the charm. Especially with the leaves in the background…lowing to yellow in the upper-right.

These chocolate daisies not only smell good, but they’re persistent flowers. They only bloom in the morning (close down early), but they go and go and go and go. We’ve had a minor frost already, yet they’re still at it. And have been all summer. They do get a little ratty looking, but one of the things I like best about them is how the blossoms look after they bloom. Great shape. I’ll post a pic soon to show what I mean. Anyway, great bee enjoying a reliable pollen source. Wonder if bees can smell (in a way that is similar to us bipeds). Hmmmm…

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The Chocolate Daisy is Going Strong

This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be in Cherry Creek, Colorado at the Fillmore Plaza with my art. Lots of stuff including the bees – and other bits of nature. Come have a look. Quick hits for the next few days because I should have been out the door two hours ago.

Here’s a neat bee on the chocolate daisy. Usually, it only blooms in the morning and closes up pretty early. Lately, though, it looks like it’s stayed open later in the day. Not sure if it’s true, or if I’m imagining. Neat flower. Get wafts of chocolate through the yard off and on, depending on the flower and the wind.

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Chocolate Daisy- and a Green Sweat Bee

This is an interesting flower. It’s called the chocolate daisy (Berlandiera lyrata) and opens well before the light hits it in the morning. Also closes quite early in the day. So most of my shots of this one will be in the shade. And it really, really does smell like chocolate. It’s fragrant enough to throw the scent for a ways, too.

Another neat thing about this one is that it skeletalizes (if that weren’t a word before, it is now) well – kind of like the allium or money plant. By that I mean that when it gets done blooming and ends up a seed pod on a dried stalk, the seed pod is interesting – compelling even.

The grasshoppers have been hard at work – as evidenced by the damaged petals. But I think that flower makes a great shape in this shot not only in spite of that, but because of that.

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Sweet Little Honeybee on a Chocolate Daisy

This is a pretty neat flower (Berlandiera Lyrata). Early in the day, it really does smell like chocolate. And if you have more than a few of them blooming at once, the scent wafts through the garden. A bit of a ratty looking flower (in my opinion), but charming in its own way (like many of us, I’d guess).

Great wings on this one. Great face, too!

I’ve got a few “Beefriends 2021” calendars still. Fourteen of the best pics from this site – in two sizes: 5×7 and 8.5×11. Get in touch (steve@bees.photo) if you’d like to buy one.

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