All pollinators, not just the bees, benefit when we plant flowers, and banish the use of poisons, and pesticides. However, the wildflowers’ I have listed in this article produce larger flowers which, in turn, attract larger pollinators – especially big bees. Florida’s large bees consist of bumblebees, carpenter bees, and mason bees.
A ‘big bee’ may look imposing, but it happily shares our garden and green space with us without harming, or even threatening, us in any way. They go about their daily lives in the garden relatively quietly and without any drama, and, in my opinion, make for rather good company. And besides, without them our flowers would not get pollinated, and without that, there can be no seeds, fruit, vegetables, and so forth.
Of course bees will sting, but only as a defensive mechanism when dealing with threats of harm to self, home or family … basically, like humans … so give them a break. They can sting if accidentally handled roughly, say when a gardener grabs a handful of flowers which contain a bee, or if we inadvertently step on or lean against one. The bee is merely trying to protect itself and so will sting out of pure survival instinct.
The other situation in which bees will sting is during home-defense. Damaging or stirring up a hive or nest is universally understood as an invitation to a sting. Bees in a colony will even coordinate an attack and have been known to chase away a threat for some distance. A threat to their hive is often literally a life or death situation for them. Most big bees, however, with the exception of the bumblebee, are solitary bees and thus do not form colonies or exhibit this behavior. The bumblebee colony is generally easily spotted and so can be avoided.
Allow your bees to go about their daily routines and do their work and in return, you help them fulfill a crucial role in the life and renewal of your plants. This simple relationship, one requiring nothing more from us than understanding and tolerance, yields rewards that are dramatically skewed in our favor. The next time you bite into a beautiful, ripe tomato you harvested that same day from your garden, remember the bee that tended the flower to make it a reality.
Viva la big bee!