A temporary visitor

Guess who has rented space in the greenhouse? Or more accurately, guess who we’ve rented for our space in the greenhouse? Blue Orchard bees! Yes, the bees arrived yesterday and have already been “installed”. These beautiful bees are cocooned inside their shipping tube right now, but after a few days in the warm greenhouse they will wake up and make their way out to pollinate our cherry blossoms which should open at exactly the same time.

The bees should last as through early summer and then, having laid her eggs in the nesting tubes, the poor females will die. We’ll keep the larva safe from pests and predators until the fall when we ship them back for winter cleaning and care until the cycle begins again next spring. Renting the bees, rather than purchasing them, was a more cost effective option but it also assured us that the bees would be properly cared for throughout.