Touchdown!

May 19, 2009

Insects love the lavender.

Think honey bees, syrphids, and carpenter bees.

The noisiest are the male carpenter bees. They buzz the lavender looking for females and then touch down for the nectar. They're quick, territorial, aggressive and noisy.

We see carpenter bees buzzing the garden as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 7:30 p.m.

The male carpenter bees, like drone honey bees, are all bluff and bluster. Only the females sting.


By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Author - Communications specialist

Attached Images:

FEET FIRST--A male carpenter bee glides in for a landing on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Feet First

MALE CARPENTER BEE nectars lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Nectaring Lavender