A Bee’s Eye View

If you were a bee, what would you see? Thanks to the wonders of macro photography and scientific research, it’s easier than ever to imagine what a bee sees. Here’s a fascinating peek at a pollinator’s world filled with stigmas, stamens, pollen and nectar. We often forget flowers are sex organs after all, decked out with ingenious mechanisms to encourage visitation and ultimately pollination.

The photos above show the “cavernous” centers of two daylilies and an echinacea cone. Imagine being a bee or other pollinator at the edge of a daylily bloom — it must be like peering into a volcano!

Pollinator Portraits

One of my greatest garden joys on warm sunny days is watching and photographing the pollinators as they frolic, mate and scavenge in the garden. Many are battling steep population declines nationwide, yet the most familiar still manage to make a showing every July and August – for now.