06/07/2026
Bees in action!!! These two female bi-colored sweet bees are both biting the stamen (the stalks) with their mandibles, to buzz pollinate this flower. They vibrate their wing muscles to shake the pollen off. Simultaneously, they are using their legs to collect and pack the pollen onto the hairs on their back legs (called scopae).
Buzz pollination is powerful method of pollination that honey bees aren’t capable of doing. Tomatoes and some other garden vegetables require buzz pollination, so look for bumble bees near your beds.
This is also why planting flowers near your veg gardens can increase your pollination rates and vegetable yields. Each flower needs to be pollinated to turn into a tomato, pepper, etc Every pollination event on the flower leads to a larger fruit.
How very cool!!!
On Missouri evening primrose.
