The topic of bees is a sad one for me because we have not had bees around here for a long time – a decade at least and probably more. Two years ago we had a glorious display of asters in October – several square yards packed with flowers. We got great butterflies but all of perhaps five bees. Each year I see a bee now and then, but never do I see them in numbers. One consequence of this is that I get little seed from plants which depend largely on bees for pollination. If I know that I’ll want seed of something, I have to hand pollinate it. I sometimes wonder if people don’t think of me “with all that stuff he has, you would think that he could at least share a little seed” - but for me the days of abundant open pollinated seed are evidently over. The year before last I had an Eremurus from which I wanted seed. I hand pollinated about thirty flowers in the middle of the inflorescence just to be safe. Three weeks later there was a seven foot high stick with a ring of about thirty marble-sized capsules girdling the middle of the former inflorescence. Not funny… It’s small consolation that I now don’t have to watch my step as I walk barefoot over the lawn. I miss the bees. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/