Great photos Celeste! I love it when the bees happen to pop into my photos when I'm out taking pics.

That was AMAZING!!!! Your photgraphy astounds me. I've never really "seen" a bee before this!

Carol

Those were very cool Celeste. Have you ever noticed your bees sleeping in the blooms? Once in a while early in the morning I'll find a sleepyhead snoozing in a flower. I love that.

Thanks for those.

Kate

I've seen bees sleeping in flowers before. The most I've ever seen was about a half-dozen bumblebees sleeping in some daisy-like flowers in the early summer morning.

WOW! Those pics are very amazing!

JIM

Very wonderful! Thank you.
I have promised myself to slow down, stop flitting about everywhere. I've learned to stop and smells the roses. Now I have a new goal, slow down to see the sleeping bees. :-) Cool.
Allison

MANY THANKS for the comments! No, I've never seen my bees
sleeping, ever....mine are very industrious, always moving.
It was quite the feat to get photos of this bee because his wings were beating like crazy and he wouldn't stay still! I have seen bumblebees sleeping, but not the honeybees (yet). I think that would be a cute photo, too.

Celeste

Celeste,
Great pictures! I love taking garden pictures. There's always so much going on in the garden and I look forward to the weekend, when I can actually stop and really enjoy my garden.

We finally saw our first honeybee just the other day on some clover. They have really been scarce this year, but the bumblebees have been abundant enough to take over.

On James Mason:

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On a sweetbriar:

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On what was supposed to be Geranium:

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And, since the once-bloomers have finished, they are making do with poppies:

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Different types of bees seemed to prefer different flowers. One thing they had in common--they were all quite gentle and let me crowd in amongst them with my camera with nary a sting. Some of the roses were so full of bees you could hear them as you walked across the yard---MMMMMmmmmthisissoGOOODmmmMMMMMmmmm.

Thank you so much CelestialRose and Lucretia1 for posting these absolutely beautiful, gorgeous photos with the bees. It definitely brought a few tears to my eyes...The bees look so beautiful! and yes, your lovely flowers/photos are like sparkling gems too with their tiny fuzzy "diadems"...I've been very depressed of late with the passing of my father's bees...but Dr. Amrine was sooo kind, gave me lots of input and information; he also mentioned that I could even try purchasing a bee nest... I will give my Dad a bumblebee nest as an early Easter present for 2010....

Here is a link purchasing a bumblebee hive

Thanks all for the great pictures of the bees and roses. I was just out in the yard and spotted a bee working very hard collecting pollen from Cubana. This rose blooms in clusters and it was funny watching the bee walk from bloom to bloom.
Now I know I made the right choice by no longer spraing for pests. The bees and butterflies are fun to watch.

Liz

This is the Mid-Atlantic Shiny Black Crawling Honey Bee ("Darth Vader"):

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And this is the Eastern Sleek-Winged Swattable Homebody Honey Bee:

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I've seen the bees sleeping on any of the flowers. They prefer the leaves of my Salix integra Hakuro Nishiki willow. I guess it protects them from the sun, though it hasn't been out in two days.

Those pictures are amazing. Did you use telephoto lenses or some other technique for the close-ups? I am also curious about the Austin rose Morning Mist. Could you describe its growth habits and flowering habits? I can just picture it in a bouquet with two of my other Austins, Windrush and Peach Blossom, both singles or semi-doubles. They would fit in well, and a few Dainty Bess would round out the picture.

Hubby got a Panasonic Lumix for his birthday--I've been the one using it. It's a nice camera--a step up from a pocket-size digital, but still able to point and shoot. It has a setting to take close-ups of flowers. Pretty cool for taking pictures of roses and bees!

The bees on the roses were pretty good about letting you get up close for a photo. I'd have the camera lens about 2 or 3 inches away from them. They didn't care--just wanted to get that flower! The ones that like the poppies were a little more skittish and would zip away if you tried to get close, and generally were photographed with the built-in zoom.

the bustopher....
Thank you! I am NOT a photographer by any means but I do enjoy taking rose pictures. I just got an Olympus Stylus-9000 because I broke the last 2 cameras I had by dropping them while snapping roses closeup....(I didn't notice the big rock in the way)...LOL>. I don't even understand all the functions on this camera yet, but it does have super macro mode on it. I just hold the camera up VERY close to the bee or flower. The bees were moving a mile a minute and their little wings were flapping like crazy! I had to take quite a few pics to get some good ones, but the bee never even noticed me.

Morning Mist grows quite tall, even here in zone 4. It must be about 5+ feet tall right now and this is only its second year. The flowers come in generous clusters and the blooms are quite large. I absolutely love this rose because the colors remind me of a sunset, and of course, is attractive to bees. So far, its been healthy and vigorous, putting out lots of canes and new growth. Winter-hardiness was quite good for its first winter. I can't believe more people don't know about this rose!
But then, I adore single roses with prominent stamens----
which are not everyone's cup of tea. But it sounds like you would appreciate this one. I think you will like it.

Celeste

Bustopher, close-up pictures need the opposite of a telephoto lens (which is used for shooting from a longer distance). Close-up photography is also called macro photography.

For the images of the ant and fly above (I was at work, and didn't have access to any of my bee pictures) I used a Panasonic Lumix like Lucretia, but with the addition of a super-macro conversion lens. It came with a huge learning curve, but I've had a lot of fun with it.

Susan

Celeste, how wonderful! I love it. What a pretty rose Morning Mist is too. I'm wondering if you've found this out: Sometimes bumble bees sleep in roses. If you go out in the morning when a single is opening sometimes a bumble bee comes rolling out.

Beautiful pictures. I have lots of bees here fortunately. My lawn is full of clover so it always has honey bees visiting. Plus there are lots of plants here that the bees, both honey bees and bumble bees, really love so that they are usually around. I have found that they are very found of all the single roses. Since I have many single roses, I am always seeing some bees visiting them.

I am only a struggling photographer at best. I have used a zoom/telephoto lens with my film camera for getting some close-ups as well as long distance shots. I'm not sure my little digital camera has macros on it, but it does have an adjustable focal length/zoom feature. It is different.

Thanks for the comments on Morning Mist. That is a nice one. Does it have a good smell? I'll bet it would look good in an arrangement with Lady Emma Hamilton. It shares the same basic colors. I'll have to see if I can find a spot for one.

I have noticed quite a few bees flying around my sweet basil plants I have in pots. They seem to like those also.

Well, I can't wait for more!!!! bumblebee pics from CelestialRose and Lucretia1...maybe sleeping bumblebees in their striped PJs LOL!

the closeup photos are absolutely brilliant and so artistic too! I used to have a wonderful but ancient KodakDX4900 that I bought with microlens and it was able to capture reds beautifully! but I too dropped it and then eventually lost the battery backing, much to my sadness...

I now have a fancy Canon Rebel XSI (Eos) which shows what a truly craaaaapy photographer I am! With the Kodak I could "pretend" with beautiful photos but not so with the Canon! LOL! It shows my true colors hahaha! I have a fancy camera and crap photography skills with a crap garden to show for it hahaha!

o.k. Alisande... no more grrooooooss flies (my most hated insect of all-filthy and nasty) where's your BEEEEEEEES? heehee!

Celeste and Lucretia, you are PROs! in my eyes and heart!

Bees visit roses to collect pollen more than nectar. IIRC rose flowers don't usually have all that much nectar in them, but they have a lot of pollen (well, at least the single-flowered ones do)! Since bees eat pollen as well as nectar the lack of nectar in a rose flower is not a problem.

Rose pollen is relatively heavy and sticky. That's a clue that roses depend upon animals to spread the pollen around. The plants that depend upon the wind produce much more pollen, but the pollen grains are relatively not sticky (dry?), small, and light so that they can be easily carried away by air currents. The grasses (including all the grain crops) are famous for depending upon wind pollination.

They work so hard and are so oblivious to me working around them or taking pictures

They neither know you are there nor care in the slightest as long as you don't try to touch them (& even if you did try the most likely reaction from the bee would be to fly away altogether rather than to sting you). It's only when you get near the hive that they get defensive.

the bustopher....
Yes, you definitely need to get this rose. I don't grow Lady Emma Hamilton but your idea of putting them together in an arrangement sounds splendid. I went out and sniffed MM to see if it has any fragrance but I can't pick up one. It's one of those roses that commands attention for its looks, not its scent. (Doesn't have any trouble attracting bees!). I had estimated it was about 5 1/2 feet tall, but standing next to it, mine is taller than me and I am 5 foot 8. So, if you get this one, be aware its a skyscraper! It puts out enormous umbrels of blooms, and I have counted 30 or more in a cluster. These blooms are 3 1/2 to 4 inches across, so they're big. This plant makes a bold statement in the garden without being gaudy. It just looks so stately and vibrant. I hope you get it!

Celeste

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One of the benefits of not using insecticides is the presence of bees and butterflies. If you also plant lavender and/or catmint as companion plants then you will get lots of bees. Even more so it you plant some wild flowers. My mom has entire beds devoted to wild flowers and she gets lots of the charming insects. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to honey bee stings but that doesn't keep me from admiring them. The only time I ever got stung was when I accidentally stepped on one when I was a child, an experience that I'll never forget. Strangely, I don't react as badly to bumblebee, hornet or wasp venom.

Thank you Celeste for posting your pics. I've been having a horrid week and your cheerful images lifted my spirits.

Patrick

hugs to you Patrick-- hope your horrid week will turn back to sunshine for the following days and months! and yes Celeste too has lifted up many of our spirits; she not only has gorgeous roses (many of us have gotten her kinds of roses) from her previous threads..., plus she has funny delightful stories to tell, and! these beautiful bee photos and with Lucretia's as well have been total sunshine for me, personally!

Strangely, I don't react as badly to bumblebee, hornet or wasp venom.

Well, those venoms are proteins, and since these insects share a closer phylogenetic relationship than many it's no surprise their venoms are similar. Yet at the same time those venoms/proteins are very likely not identical. (If I was a toxicologist I'd probably know the answer to that for sure one way or the other, but that's not my field at all).

Apparently your immune system is capable of detecting differences among the proteins and reacts especially strongly to only honeybee venom.

(I hope your horrid week has finished and future weeks are more to your liking!)

I can confirm how cool it is to have an area full of wildflowers near your yard or garden! When I lived with my parents for a while, north of Philadelphia, their lot backed up to some electrical power lines. At first that land was farmed, but then the adjoining farmer sold to a developer, and thus the land next to my parents' lot (which was owned not by the farmer, but by the electric utility company) filled with whatever would grow (including more than a few asters and goldenrod!!)

You should have seen the variety of tiny, native, solitary bees that used to feed upon my parents dogwoods when they were blooming!!!

(If you haven't learned of the native, solitary bees, you really are missing out on some of the most beautiful insects eastern North America has to offer!! The vast, vast majority of them never sting humans, largely because they either don't have stingers, or are so small their stingers are incapable of piercing human flesh. They're cute, and often besides that {{gwi:304549}})

Native solitary bees can be quite useful as pollinators in your yard. They don't live socially, with hives, and workers, and queens. Instead each adult female collects her own nectar and pollen to feed her own set of offspring, but even so when you have many of them (all largely totally harmless, cute, and beautiful) in your yard your flowers and vegetables get pollinated even if you don't have (alien) honeybees there.

(Honeybees never existed on this continent until European colonists brought them here. They are only native in Europe, Africa, and Asia.)