Echinops and the Bees

[AlanLichty]

I am not quite sure what what kind of juju the Globe Thistle (Echinops) has in its flowers but it seems to drive the bees crazy. They act almost like they are drunk when they get around the flowers and will bump into each other to get at the little flowers. I have seen honey bees, bumble bees, and wasps bumping into each other on the flower heads and they just ignore each other while they dive in to get more. I was working on a deck yesterday and was brushing past one of these plants regularly accessing what I was working on and they simply ignored me while they were having their frenzy. I decided to grab my camera and catch some of the action. This is one of the shots that came out of that session.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Beautiful image, Alan.

 

[AlanLichty]

Beautiful image, Alan.

Thanks Doug!

 

[JimFox]

This is great. What a cool flower Alan, and that's neat that whatever the reason is that the bee's become such good models for you.

 

[AlanLichty]

This is great. What a cool flower Alan, and that's neat that whatever the reason is that the bee's become such good models for you.

Thanks Jim - for a plant that almost resembles a weed it can put on quite the show with the bees. I was amazed at the level of singular intent of the bugs going after the flowers. Even when I brushed by some of the plants hard enough to leave the flowers swaying back and forth they didn't even budge from their spots on the blooms.