The Holly is Alive with Bees!

Stock photography

Idly looking out the window on Sunday I saw a lot of gnats flitting around our holly bushes. When I got out there it turns out they were actually bees. So many bees, all busily going from blossom to blossom. Even the occasional wasp was in the crowd. They had a very different style though. Instead of quick canvassing, the wasps were slowly and methodically covering each blossom thoroughly before moving to another.

Now I'd never even noticed the holly bushes had blossoms. They are tiny and nondescript to our eyes. But they have a heavenly scent. I'd wondered for years what was giving off  that scent as I'd go into our office or front yard. As I said, the blossoms are so nondescript that I never noticed them before.

When I walked onto our porch after bee watching I was hit with the scent which had accumulated under our eaves. Directly sniffing the blossoms (at my own risk from busy bees) yielded nothing. The scent had to gather, it seemed.

These holly bushes suddenly took on extra value. I'd always liked that they provided berries for sparrows, cardinals, and robins in late winter. I also appreciated that squirrels and small birds liked hiding in them. Now I could see they perfume the air and feed the bees!

It makes me look at those prickly leaves much more forgivingly. Once again, there is so much that we think we know all about but which has hidden dimensions, if only we open our eyes and see. (Or noses and sniff. Take your pick!)

Ours are Burford Holly bushes which you may read about here.