Bees in the Garden

It was lovely to have a long weekend and be able to slow down a bit :)

Bees are having a hard time at the moment so I like to keep a good range of flowers they like in my border. At the moment they are particularly keen on the pale Aquilegia (Columbine). I noticed some holes in the spur of the petals and suspected a pest of some sort. In this case however, it was the bumble bees. In the photograph you can see where the bee has punctured the petal to get at the nectaries designed for an insect with a longer tongue. It doesn't help pollinate the flower this way, but as these are such prolific seeders I think we will still get plenty of new plants.