09/02/2026
Look at the wings before you swat. The one hovering over the marigolds like a tiny helicopter has two of them, not four, and it is a fly. It cannot sting you. It has never stung anyone.
Four yellow and black things share the September garden and people run from all of them. Two deserve some respect. A honeybee is fuzzy and round and will only sting if she has no other choice, because it costs her life. A yellowjacket is smooth and shiny with a pinched waist, and this is the month it gets bold around your plate. That is the one worth stepping away from.
The other two are harmless. The hoverfly is a costume, a fly dressed as a wasp so birds leave it alone, and its larvae eat aphids by the hundred. The sweat bee is the tiny metallic green one that lands on your arm on a hot day. It wants the salt, and it only stings if you press on it.
Two wings or four. Fuzzy or smooth. It takes about a second to tell. 🐝
