Good article and I wish him well.
I saw and heard something I haven’t seen since I can’t remember when. I was watering at the garden center the other day. I got to one of our shrubs, one we’ve had for 2 years. We whacked it back pretty good last year, and it’s bushed back out. It’s a cleyera, similiar to a red tip but without the disease problems. for what ever reason, some of the cleyeras bloom—most don’t. This one is in full bloom and smells really sweet, like eleagnus. It was covered with the small bumbles, to the point where you could actually hear them a good distance away. There were probably 100-150 bees, at least, working the plant. They weren’t touching the petunias or salvia right beside it, just that. I got up close and personal,had to water teh shrub anyway. I had a ball watching and listening to them. Made sure I told my boss—he’s pretty allergic—not that he would have gotten that close anyway!
I watched them for a good 20 mins or so, got nearly in the plant with them. Brought back a lot of memories. I used to play around Daddy’s hives when I was little. Unfortunatley, there wasn’t a honeybee in sight.