Blue Mason Bee image by Daveeza
That’s right, I recently purchased some excellent pollinators for my vegetable garden this spring – Osmia Lignaria Propinqua. For those of you that find Latin obnoxious: Western Blue Mason Bees. I realize that at this point they may not look all that exciting. Hence, the only image you get for now is that of a paper straw. But, just like teeny-weeny bears, they’re sleeping inside their little traveling tube until spring – in my refrigerator.
Because we-as-a-whole are experiencing a honey bee decline that can’t be entirely explained, some clever people got the brilliant idea to actually use our local (native) bees to pick up the slack of the over-extended honey bees.
And you know how I enjoy seducing the beneficial insects.
So, I got on the phone with Dave at Crown Bees and decided to order some mason bees of my very own. They arrived on Christmas Eve (“To Chris, Love Chris”). I was quite vocal in my excitement. As usual, my family was unimpressed with the public display. They know me here.
I don’t get much reaction anymore since that time when one of my daughters got into the freezer to retrieve a fresh bag of bagels. After opening the end of the bag, a dead flying squirrel slid out.
She gave an exasperated, “Mom!”
And I was all, “What? It’s a flying squirrel – how friggin’ cool is that?”
Truth be told I had saved the little guy to show my 4H wildlife group. If only my fridge could talk.
So, that very same child – who is now an adult child – set about assembling the little starter bee house. It holds the straws for the bees to get all cozy with inside. The bee house even has a sliding window on one side so that you can observe your bees building their mason “nests”. It’s not an ornate piece, but it’ll do for now. Eventually, I plant on purchasing a much cooler and more spacious condo.
(Here’s a picture of a fairy house that’s on my desk.)
(Here’s a picture of the mason bee house. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?)
I’m going to post my Blue Mason Bee Experience from start to finish right here so that you may follow along and learn as I learn about these gentle pollinators. By the way, Blue Mason Bees are a docile sort and are basically a no-sting fellows. So, I can feel free to let the kids observe and enjoy them without fear of retaliation.
I wanted to mention something very important that I learned from Dave. The mason bees I’ve purchased have no problem letting our native mason bees have a sleep-over at their house. This is exciting because the locals will be drawn in and they’ll have wee bee-beers, probably sing a couple of Irish tunes, and slap each other on the back. Then they’ll all live happily ever after in their bee commune (or fairy house).
For a little more info on the Blue Mason Bees as pollinators in the home garden and orchards, check out my article at Vegetable Gardener.com and learn even more at Crown Bees.
*Here’s the second post about the Western Blue Mason bees ~ First Spring with My Blue Mason Bees.
Wow, Chris – this is so exciting! I can’t wait to hear all about your new beauties! ps. love the squirrel in your freezer
LOL ~ Thanks, Michelle! Hey, can’t wait for your book!
Nice Chris!
We have carpenter bees naturally all over my section of my neighborhood so i cant wait to see how your expeience goes.
Wow how exciting! I wish I could do the same, but I don’t think the condo owners would be to happy with me. I used to keep whole dead fish in the freezer so my children and the children I taught could make dead fish prints.
You’re my kinda people, Susan.
Carpenter bees are awesome, Scott! How wonderful of you to notice them. And now you need some Blue Masons, hehehehe.
Chris, I’m honored to be part of the fun. I truly hope that many of your readers will want to participate with you. It’s an adventure that is best shared while waiting impatiently for your next installment.
Personally, the fairy kingdom house is MUCH fancier than anything I have seen. I’m concerned that you might be creating a backyard bee war over which nesting female gets to use this!
Bee Happy!
I’ll be keeping an eye on your bee adventures – we periodically toy with the idea of beekeeping but haven’t taken the plunge. Those bees are purdy…even if they do have stinging bits.
Heather – While they’re capable of stinging – they predominately don’t -cool, right?
That’s why they’re so perfect for suburban homes that have kiddos!
Dave ~ I’m thankful that you weren’t offended by our home re-design *grin*
C’mon, Spring!!
Chris, reading this made me laugh out loud..I’ll be following your Mason Bee adventures as they set up home in your backyard habitat…hopefully they won’t drink so much bee-beer that they will be too hung over to get out and pollinate! Thanks also for the tip on Crown Bees, I’ll add them to my list of bee resources. Was happy to see they only ship eastern mason bees to the east, and western bees to the west.
Ellen ~ I’m so happy that you’ll follow my adventure with the friendliest bees on Earth. I was so excited when they arrived that I nearly peed my pants. *grin*
Hey Chris,
cool! I love bees- some of my favorites are the carpenter bees living in our fence and in our eaves. They love our Myer Lemon tree, lavender, and our natives. They are soooo big, I think of them as pets. And I discovered the males are these absolutely humungous orange guys-OMG. Having lots of pollinators buzzing around makes me happy.
So would the mason bees get along with the carpenter bees I wonder? The carpenters were living here when we bought our place- I wouldn’t want to displace them
BTW: Happy New Year!
- urban artichoke
Patricia ~ You’ll be happy to know that both the Blue Mason bees and the carpenter bees will live in harmony! I agree; the sights and sounds of the pollinators here and there in the garden make me smile, too (confirmation that all is as it should be)!
That is so cool that you ordered bees. These are pretty ones too. Ewww, flying squirrel in the fridge. That would freak me out since I’m deathly afraid of squirrels!
Ooo, that is so exciting! Hope you get some amazing honey! Flying squirrel in the freezer would freak me out too =P
Hi Lynn ~ Actually mason bees don’t make honey; they’re just awesome pollinators! We don’t have native honey bees in the U.S.. They all come from Europe!
We have all kinds of native bees in our tiny Oakland garden. And we keep honeybees, which I caught from feral swarms.
My grandma was a huge nature lover, and there’s a famous-in-my-family story about her finding a very special but dead bird. The local Audubon society wanted to get it stuffed, but their taxidermist was out of town. So she stored it in the freezer.
To this day, everyone in the family knows the phrase: “indigo bunting: do not crush.”
Hi, Chris,
I am a teacher. The other night hubby got a bag out of the freezer to ice an arm injury. I smiled asking,”Do you know you have a frozen octopus on your shoulder?” Ha!
I have blue mason bees living in my backyard. They tunnel into the ground with their own little holes, the size of a PENCIL. I have their area staked off. My family thinks I am nuts to be so protective of my bees. They are very docile and pretty. I may try the bee houses. Do I need to provide the home before the first freeze if I want to encourage a new home for next summer?
Thanks,
Lisa in Colorado