Mason Bees are solitary bees and are the fastest most efficient pollinator, 250-300 Mason bees can pollinate an entire acre. Unlike Honey bees, they are not aggressive as they don’t make honey and they don’t have a hive to protect, although they do have a stinger they are unlikely to use it. Mason bees look very similar to a house fly and so you will regularly hear me say “don’t kill houseflies as they could in fact be Mason bees”. Mason bees have a hairy abdomen that they use to attract the pollen and then erratically flit from tree to tree or blossom to blossom. They have a short but very important life living only 6-8 weeks, the males live even shorter lives but are a necessity for fertilizing the females. Once the males have done their job they will die, and the females will spend the next 6-8 weeks pollenating and laying cocoons for the next season. Creating the right yard for these bees is very important and may take a couple of seasons to get it right, but don’t all good things come to those who wait? You need the cocoons, a house, flowers and trees, mud and sunshine. The time to put your cocoons out is when you see Dandelions. I am a big advocate for eliminating the use of pesticides and chemicals, so if you want to get rid of something in your backyard try to find a more natural way of doing so. Everything that we spray or lay on the soil leaches into the ground and then everything that grows out of the ground is laced with that chemical. Humans and animals are greatly affected by this as we eat and drink everything that comes from the ground, we in turn are ingesting all those chemicals. We offer Mason bee seminars April 26th and May 3rd and carry all the supplies you will need to create your bee garden. We have cocoons in stock now so order fast as they are going quickly.