25/365 Tues June 8

I would like to introduce you to our newest garden pets. This is a mason bee house.

Inside the little house are tubes which are now full of bee babies.

Mason bees improve pollination in the garden and do not produce honey. The male bee is at the front of the tube and the female at the back. Once the male emerges he waits for the female to mate. The female collects pollen and nectar. She backs into the tube and deposits the pollen and an egg. She then seals the cell with mud and continues the process over and over. The larva consumes the pollen/nectar provision before it emerges. At least I think that is how it goes.