The addition of Dahlia seems to have brought with it an abundance of bees in my garden this year and I love bees. Bees are the reason I have so many different cross pollinated Delphinium in the Nursery that brought all of the hummingbirds this year. I also love hummingbirds and for years we have fed them in the Bird Sanctuary but this year we didn't have to. The Delphinium patch was bringing them in droves all season without any help from the feeders. We had bald-faced hornets show up and nest as well. Once I looked them up and found out they ate aphids and were not aggressive, we let them stay and my roses were aphid free this year. I don't think they eat thrips though but that is for another post... on not so beneficial bugs. I think if I had to pick the three most beneficial bugs in my garden this year, it would be the bees, the hornets and the earthworms. With all of the compost I added last year, this year, there were more of all three.
We've had tons of bees this year too, and less wasps it seems. I actually touched a bumble bee yesterday - man, I'm brave now.
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