I'm in Denver, and I've been hearing fellow gardeners mention that they're not seeing many bees this year. Normally, my garden is buzzing with all kinds of bees, especially on my salvia plants, but this year I've been lucky to spot just one. Oddly enough, I've noticed a lot more wasps around. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced a drop in bee sightings or if there are places where bees are still thriving. Could this be due to the unusually warm winter? Is the bee population down everywhere, or do some areas still have a healthy number?
6 Answers
I'm located in west central New Mexico near Grants and I haven’t seen a single bee this spring. We have plenty of fruit trees that blossomed without freezing, but I'm not seeing any bees to pollinate. Looks like there won't be any apples for us this year. ?
I’m from Minnesota, and I’ve only seen a few bumblebees this year, which is way less than in previous years. Even the wasp presence seems lower than usual. It’s concerning!
From western North Carolina, I'm also seeing very few bees this year! My penstemon is in full bloom, and normally I'd see tons of bees by now. It’s strange, as I haven’t seen any news about this decline either. :-O
Down here in the Tennessee River Valley, I’ve spotted some carpenter bees and honey bees, but I'm still waiting for the native ground bees to show up. Our wasp population seems lower than normal, maybe they are struggling with available food. Hopefully, as summer rolls in, we’ll start to see more bees out and about. Good luck!
Maybe those wasps from your area made their way to Denver?
In the Puget Sound area of WA, I’m still seeing plenty of bees, especially bumblebees on my lupine and columbine plants. It seems like some places are still thriving with them, thankfully!
Just so you know, there are plenty of native bees, so if we're seeing fewer honeybees, it's not always a bad thing. Maybe the wasps are native pollinators thriving more now!
There are definitely native bees out there, but I'm really curious if there are areas still seeing healthy bee populations.
That's a bummer! I noticed the last spring was also warm in Denver, so I'm hoping the bees just moved north instead of disappearing completely.