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| I forget every year that when our Ulmus parvifolia (Lacebark Elm 'Allee') flowers in the fall, it will be covered with bees! This morning, as I started to step out of my car after returning from an appointment, I was alarmed to hear very loud droning from somewhere in the yard. Honestly, I was ready to jump back in the car!
Then I spotted the elm. It's a young tree, but has grown so much in the past few years that it has been providing much needed shade to the west facing front of our home. What started out about 5 years ago as an inch and a half inch diameter trunk is now around 8 inches! And that nice canopy is covered with flowers and BEES....thousands and thousands of them. I've never seen anything quite like it. I assume that a wind pollinated tree such as this doesn't expend a lot of energy on making nectar, so that pollen must sure make the bees happy. I didn't see any other pollinating insects busy on it, just honey bees. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by tsugajunkie z5 SE WI (My Page) on Tue, Sep 11, 12 at 1:53
| Like we tell so many folks, rhizo, a picture sure would help ;-) Anyway, that sounds pretty wild. Like there's a haze of bees around the canopy. tj |
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| Speaking of "hearing" trees, I walked past a large hickory the other day and was amazed at the loud sound of chewing! There must have been several squirrels up there. The tree overhangs a driveway and the concrete was covered in small bits from all the chewing. |
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| I have my own bee colony (bee tree thanks to not using a lot of chemicals in my environment) and I can say this about wind pollinated trees/plants. Just because they are wind pollinated doesn't mean bees won't visit them. My corn two years ago was covered in bees every day it was in tassle. Their pollen sacs were loaded and looked like orange saddle bags. LOL. In fact my particular colony prefers veggies and another fav of theirs was broccoli when I left it to seed up for saving. I can tell my ferals by their appearance, evidently not the same strain as most of the hive-bees around here. Learn something new every day by observing. |
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| Same here rhizo w/my 32' Chinese elm -- the tree is buzzing. Like calliope sez, bees gather pollen from quite a few wind-pollinated trees -- starting w/Silver/Red maples in early spring. They also gather propolis from cottonwood buds to make comb "glue". Pollen right now is important to feed the brood that will eventually overwinter. Honeybees are also currently busy here on the wild asters for nectar. |
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