Bees & the honeysuckle

Cindi · June 17, 2007, 10:12:28 AM

I have a very large honeysuckle vine, blooming, the pictures below were taken on June 8. What a sound came from that bush. The bees were going crazy on it and I couldn't help but notice every time I walked by. The pollen that these bees were covered with was something to behold. This vine's flowers are not fragrant, which is too bad, but it really attracts the pollinators, the bumblebees love it too, as do the syrphid flies. Enjoy. Have a wonderful day and a beautiful life. Cindi

KONASDAD · June 17, 2007, 11:30:29 AM

My bees ignore honey suckle. I think they are on the locust bloom instead. Hummingbirds love the honey suckle too.

Cindi · June 17, 2007, 11:55:47 AM

Konasdad. This year I planted two yellow honey locust. I was looking for the black honey locust, but seems no one has it available up here. Do you know anything about the flow of the yellow honey locust? Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

Kirk-o · June 17, 2007, 12:14:22 PM

Can the bees get nectar out of the honey suckle are there tungues long enough?
kirko

Cindi · June 17, 2007, 12:25:23 PM

kirk-o. About the availability of nectar to the bees. When I observed these bees for so long, I only saw them gathering pollen from the anthers, I did not actually see them obtaining nectar, so I have no clue. I never could ever figure out how one can identify if the bees are getting nectar anyways. Can someone clue me into that one, how to tell is they are actually obtaining nectar? Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

doak · June 17, 2007, 12:58:59 PM

If you notice enough, if there is no other nector around. They will work their way into the base of the bloom for the necter
doak

Moonshae · June 17, 2007, 01:55:01 PM

We have a ton of honeysuckle about 10 feet from the hives, but I've never seen a single bee there.

JP · June 17, 2007, 06:58:45 PM

I like the pictures.

Brian D. Bray · June 17, 2007, 10:39:13 PM

Cindi,

You are nearly 100 miles north of me and yet your honeysuckle is blooming a few days before mine. Mines purple. I have a batch of it climbing a tress on the west side of the porch. I've counted 6 house sparrow nests in it. All the sparrows in the honeysuckle and lilacs surrounding the poarch keep the flowers well fertilized. A produce music for the ears.

rdy-b · June 17, 2007, 10:57:11 PM

acording to my copy of Honey plants of north america honey bees can only obtain pollen from honeysuckel but the bumbel bee and humingbird enjoy the nectare.great pics. how much $$$ dose a outfit that makes close shots like yours cost? bee keepers are a thrifty lot :-D

Cindi · June 20, 2007, 12:02:33 AM

rdy-b. That camera is a Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixels, model DSC-P200. It has a macro lense and does take some pretty nice shots. My husband worked as a Western Zone Manager for Sony of Canada for over 20 years. He has some good contacts and wishes he could still get the great employee discounts. He took an extremely early retirement from the company, so we are out of the picture as far as discounts go. But all our stuff is still Sony, I guess once hooked, it is hard to get out of the passion for the product. The value of that camera was about $450 CDN, but that was about 1-1/2 years ago. I imagine that it can be purchased for much less now (or a model that is similar), since digital technology has come so far.

I am actually going to buy a different model this week. I will keep the DSC-P200 because it is a great camera, but I want one that is flat so I can tuck it easier into my back jeans pocket when I am outside. I love to keep my camera at hand. The DSC is fairly deep so it kind of is hard to stuff into the jeans pocket (but I do manage :roll:). Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi