Bees and More

They’ve been growing in the front flower bed for as long as I can remember. Where we got them I have no idea. They resemble the black-eyed susans that grow along roadsides and in abandoned fields, but they’re not that species: Rudbeckia hirta

Beyond a doubt they’re a Rudbeckia, but which one? Perhaps they’re a cultivar (a variety originating and persisting under cultivation) or a hybrid between several species.

Whatever it may be, bees find it very desirable as a source of pollen. The most common bees feeding on the Rudbeckia are honeybees. Where do the honeybees come from, where’s their hive? It’s generally acknowledged that honeybees prefer to forage not more than two miles from their hive, but may travel up to five miles. I don’t know anyone within two miles who keeps bees, so these may be wild bees whose hive is in a hollow tree somewhere or in the walls of a building. Honeybees aren’t native to North America, they originated in Eurasia and Africa, but they're perfectly at home here.

Honeybees do a “dance” in the hive to communicate the direction and distance of flowers yielding pollen or nectar to the other bees in the hive. 

But it isn’t just honeybees that gather pollen from the Rudbeckia, there are other species of bees: leaf cutter bees -

Metallic (sweat) bees –

And bumblebees of various species –

A red-spotted purple butterfly sips nectar from the flowers –

Several species of flies visit to feed on pollen –

Predaceous insects also frequent the patch of Rudbeckia seeking a meal –

This patch of Rudbeckia has expanded each year, adding more resources for pollinators. As we age and are less capable of gardening intensively it’s almost certain that the expansion will continue – to the delight of the bees and other insects.