Just to be fair, here is Isaac Watts' poem in full:
How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the day
From every opening Flower!
How skilfully she builds her Cell!
How neat she spreads the Wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet Food she makes.
In Works of Labour or of Skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some Mischief still
For idle Hands to do.
In Books, or Work, or healthful Play
Let my first Years be past,
That I may give for every Day
Some good Account at last. [1715]
The echinacea below is in my own garden. No honey bees to be seen anywhere.
These sunflowers are in the neglected gardens at High Point School, near my house. Everything in the gardens planted by teachers with their classes during the school year is languishing for lack of water and attention. But the sunflowers are tall and lovely and doing great.
No honey bees are visiting them, however.
We live on a quarter acre lot. Earlier this year, I wondered the same thing. Right now, however, the bees are enjoying the milkweed and borage, both of which are in full bloom. I am surprised about the seeming lack of interest in the bee balm - I assumed there was something in the plant's name.
ReplyDeleteBee balm is usually full of bumble bees, but it is a flower that is too deep for the honey bee's tongue (proboscis) to reach the nectar.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that bumble bees are generally territorial. On Saturday, I was watching my honeybee on a lavender bush in my community garden then a bumble bee hovered around and saw that my honey bee was in the bush as well and started attacking her till she left. Bumble bees can be quite the bully in the land of the bees.
ReplyDeleteplant yourself some datura!!!! i have a bunch of it in my front yard & the honeybees go NUTZ for it because of the pollen. blooms all summer!
ReplyDeletev-8
I think theres one in the background on the second picture.
ReplyDelete