How many bees can there be?

Hi friends. Before I left for California I met with my friend Greg Corman to build a native bee condo using 100% recycled materials. While I was at his place, I noticed there were barrel cactus flowers open…and many many cactus bees flying all around and into them. I was completely overwhelmed by their numbers. They were beautiful and amazing. Planting native plants in your garden can attract many beautiful bees like these. Greg’s home had many native plants, so there seemed to always be something there for the bees to eat from spring through fall. This is why he has so many bees…and many different species of bees. These are a few photos showing the bee party going on in his yard.

How many bees can crowd into a cactus flower? Do you see the tiny metallic bee on the petal near the middle-right side of the flower? These types of  flowers not only attract specific species of bees that only use cactus flower pollen, but they also attract those bees that use all types of pollen.

Cactus bees inside barrel cactus flower

There were so many bees flying around visiting all the flowers, that some didn’t want to wait their turn and instead began visiting flowers that were not entirely open yet.

Once the bees saw others going into these semi open flowers, others began flying towards them to get in on the action.

You can have many beautiful bees like this around your home if you provide the right environment for them. Giving them food and homes will bring the bees to you. And many flowers require pollination from pollinators in order to reproduce, so it would be good to have them around.