Friday, December 25, 2015

christmas day - honey bees on hellebores

dec 2015 bee on hellebores

Last week the hellebore has been blooming gloriously in the misty unusually warm New England weather. Today the sun broke out. I saw my bees were out foraging. Hard to believe on the last week of the year! I found some, collecting hellebore nectar. The hive entrance was pretty active with three or 4 bees passing in and out at any one time. I didn't see any bees foraging around the pond on our afternoon boat ride. Of course - there are no flowers there. The only flowers around now are some dried dianthus and some beautiful hellebore's. This hellebore plant had several bees on it even though it was nearing sunset, 4 pm, when I checked it.

Dec 2015 bee on hellebores IMG_4485

a very warm Christmas!

My bees are out and about at the end of December! 61F now, and yesterday was a high of 68F. I don't know if this is good for them. There are no flowers. I suppose they can get a drink and stretch their wings then go back to their honey stores.