If you read the article through, and see how totally unnatural the situation is, it shouldn't be too difficult to understand why hives are failing. We are ripping up open ground at a record rate into fragments, limiting foraging areas, feeding bees artificial diets, moving them through geographical natural barriers. There is very little natural left in farming, much less so than you'd ever think. The corporates were hell bent for leather thirty five years ago when I was majoring in agriculture, to teach us from the bottom up that the family farm was going to disappear. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then when we make it as artificial as we can, we expect their social instinct to not be affected? The instincts honed over millenia? If farming was done naturally in the United States, there wouldn't even be honey bees. Did you know they were imported with the white men? We have indigenous natural pollinators, but most homeowners kill them on site as nuisances.

What a selfish and untrustworthy steward mankind is of this earth.

We have a terrible problem here in Maryland due to mite infestation. I wonder also if some of this is carried back in with millions of bees rented to Scandinavian countries each year? I hardly see any open pollination on my glads or dahlias. Found seed on only one dahlia last fall. Steve in Baltimore County.

I'm gratified that I'm seeing lots of bees on my Carolina Jessamine this spring. Last year I had lots of bumble bees but no honey bees, so I'm gladto see them buzzing around this year.

Sheila, so true.

Man has never seemed to have gotten over the thought that he is the center of the universe and everything is placed solely for his disposal. But Mother Nature has an incredible ability to self-adjust and readjust. Man will create his own cataclysm, pay the price and Mother Nature will march on with or without him.

As far as the new world goes, though, honeybees aren't part of "nature." They're native to the old world, and "wild" honeybees here are escapes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Honeybees

Try this instead

Here is a link that might be useful: Honeybees

This reminds me of Mohammed Ali's statement: "Float like a lepidoptera, sting like a hymenoptera." LOL

Seriously, I love bees of all kinds, but I only seem to see bumblebees in my garden. They are pollinators, too, aren't they?

Of course they're pollinators, as are butterflies and wasps and anything else that flits from plant to plant drinking nectar and spreading pollen.

Exactly. That is why I brought it out that native American plants did just fine, thank you, before the white men imported honeybees. Bumble bees are good pollinators, and they can pollinate at temperatures lower than honeybees, and have less stringent water requirements. Greenhouses typically use bumble bees as pollinators because they are less aggressive! Honeybees were brought here primarily for honey production and their large numbers in managed hives were what led them to be used a pollinators commercially.

The thing is that other bees may be solitary or ground dwellers. That is why I said that homeowners typically kill them when they find them present, as they see their large size and assume, often in error, that they are threats. Use of chemicals on turf and in gardens plays havoc with them as well. I've read that that bumble bees are often considered better pollinators than honeybees, more efficient and needed in lower quantities. I've also read, whether it is true on not, I am not sure, that bumble bees will go to a flower once, and not waste time trying to harvest a blossom more than once in the same foraging trip.

But most homeowners see a ground or wood dwelling bee, and they head out immediately to the box store for an aerosol spray to kill them. sad.

Trouble is that many folks can't distinguish between bees and wasps, if it buzzes and flies,it must be a bad, bad bee!
I have many bee-magnets in my garden and spend a bit of time observing all the various species of bees visiting the blossoms, it appears there are some that specialize in certain plants, others don't care, as long as it blooms.
Fun to watch them loaded with pollen, looks as though they are wearing yellow breeches.
I discovered how much of an impact they have when I planted larkspur - pink in one part of the garden - deep blue in another part, now I have everything from pink to violet to dusty rose, because of the cross pollination.

Bumblebees are especially good at something called "buzz pollination." One of our friends and fellow vendors at farmers' markets is transitioning from peaches and apples to chestnuts and is looking to increase his bumblebee population since chestnuts require this. A fancier name is "sonification."

Here is a link that might be useful: Buzz pollination

Nature bats last.

I remember several years ago when we got our first carpenter bees. I couldn't tell the difference between them and bumblebees until I looked it up and compared pictures. Wonder how many BBs have been smashed by those who don't know the difference.

I've only been stung once in all my years of gardening but it was by a something in a nest underground which I stepped on. I usually water and garden only at dawn though because of our heat...rarely see bees then but later when sun comes up there's more bee activity. Thanks for those links, Neil. And Acorn...love that "Nature bats last". josh

I've been stung several times by wasps, usually when I'm refilling the hummingbird feeders which they also love. They are actually very beneficial insects, so I'm trying very hard to let them be, but I've got to admit that it is a challenge at times.

Last summer, GS and I spent time by the perennial bed, looking at all the different sizes of bees, from tiny ones of less than 1/4", to huge bumblies that were easily 3 inches long. No honey bees, though. During the whole season, I saw one honey bee, once. Big change from having to wear shoes when you crossed to lawn because you couldn't take a step without brushing a honey bee in the clover. The clover is still there, but honey bees are long gone.

And wasps as a general group are peaceful creatures, but I'm the one who stepped into a yellow jackets' nest while mowing. 47 stings on one leg and over 80 on the other [the bites were so overlapping, a true count couldn't be made]. I'm sure there must be something good about yellow jackets, but I don't know what.

I have honey bees every year here. The neighbor across
the lake has some hives and his bees love my flowers.

I fell in love with honey bees years ago when I visited
the Natural Tunnel visitors museum and saw honey bees at
work. The folks there had an old tree with a hive in it.
The remains of the tree was encased on the side next to
the museum wall with plexiglass so those inside the museum
could see every little detail of what the bees were doing.
That was years ago and now the museum has evolved into a
big tourist attraction site with chair lifts down to the
tunnel. I haven't been back to see if the bees are still
there.

As for Yellow Jackets, I stay as far away from them as
I can get.