Generally, I have no vendetta against bees. Carpenter bees, OTOH, have got to go. I’ve got lots of them. I know what I need to do, but I didn’t do it in time for the spring. In the coming weeks I’m going to seal up the nests.
But last week (maybe a little more than a week, actually), I saw lots of bees on one of my plants. I don’t know the name of the plant, but here are some pics of the plant with the bees on it.
I know the large, black abdomen bees are carpenter bees. But what about the striped abdomen ones? Is there any reason to be concerned? There were also lots of moths on these flowers a couple weeks prior to the bees. I saw a couple stragglers still hanging around at the same time as the bees, but didn’t get any pictures. Carpenter Bee Other Bees, photo #1 Other Bees, photo #2 Other Bees, photo #3
Bonus question: What are these mushrooms? Mushrooms
Those look like honey bees, but they could also be squash bees, which look similar. The plants in the pictures are a type of Sedum (aka Stonecrop or Live-Forever), possibly the Autumn Joy variety.
Carpenter bees are not generally aggressive – the males have no stingers and the females sting only when provoked. They’re generally regarded as getting along with humans.
Furthermore, they don’t do much damage with their boring:
They’re also important pollinators of some flowers.
The bulk of the nests are on the underside of my porch. When you go in & out, they get a bit defensive. Stinging hasn’t been an issue, but they are annoying to adults and intimidating to children.
Aside from that, they are also hitting some of the eaves on my home. Their “vomit” is unsightly.
If it were just one small nest, no problem. But there are dozens of nests and probably a hundred bees out and about. It really cuts into the enjoyment of the yard.
When I get home I’ll post bigger pics. I had to copy/save/post these from facebook. I’ve got much higher resolution files which can be cropped to see the bees in pretty good detail.
I’m only worried about the honeybees (?) if I can trace their hive to somewhere that poses a threat to us. If they’re just visiting for some pollen, that’s cool with me.