Minding Their Own Bees-ness

Late Tuesday afternoon, I went outside to place four additional Russian Sage plants into the beds out front. Three others were already there, planted last fall, but they looked like they needed company. A few weeks ago, I had purchased more at Valley Brook Nursery on Route 22 East (just before the Spinning Wheel Diner).

The additional flora were sitting in their containers in the upper driveway near the house, patiently awaiting reunion with their lonely friends out front. Digging holes is a lot of work, and I had been postponing the job until the weather was reasonably cool, and until a steady breeze was ready to wick away the sweat to keep me from wilting.

Tuesday afternoon was the day – blue skies, puffy clouds, and dry temps with a gentle steady breeze. Out came the wheelbarrow and garden tools and off I went to my appointment with nature.

There are, as you outdoor gardening aficionados already know, certain types of outdoor plants that are nirvana for bees. Russian Sage meets their requirements: lots of fragrant flowers (albeit small) that need pollination and that the bees need for nectar. There also are other types of bees that don’t like people.

But not these friendly little Bridgewater guys – nothing but pure camaraderie between me and them, as I raked away the mulch, dug four holes, and set the plants into Mother Earth with a generous cushion of Canadian peat and black, rich USA garden soil to give the sage a good start.

I worked down on my knees among seven bee-friendly plants, as plenty of fat, three-quarter-inch-long black and yellow worker bees maneuvered in flight like miniature helicopters. They swarmed all over the sage and flew closely around me, within mere inches of my face and neck. At least one grazed me; I was that close to the sage.

Perfect harmony! The bees were getting what they needed and I, in return, would get the pleasure of good-looking blue and green, easy-maintenance flowering plants. The bees never thought of me as sting material – but only as a benefactor. They were just doing an honest day’s work, minding their own bees-ness. Amazing, isn’t it, how Mother Nature knows precisely what she is doing?

(Author’s caution: Not all bees are human-friendly. Anyone with a serious allergic reaction to bees should not follow my example!)

Photo Courtesy of JP Rogers Plant Library