[cnt]

Can anyone ID this flower/plant? I bought it last year as an ornamental and didn't bother even reading the name. Apparently the bumble bees LOVE it. It's about 30 feet away (and around the corner of my house) from my hive and the honey bees don't seem to care.

Next up. I saw this tiny bee today, around the size of a grain of rice. Any one know what kind of bee it is? Just curious about it mostly.

 

[Colleen O.]

Meadow Sage (Salvia nemorosa). Not sure which cultivar but it might be 'Ostfriesland' EAST FRIESLAND. I have one plant of that and then a bunch of Salvia × sylvestris 'Mainacht' MAY NIGHT. When you tweak the leaves it has a distinctive smell (to me anyway). Honey and Bumble bees usually work mine pretty well but this year the Black Locust bloom start coincided with the salvia bloom start and nothing worked the salvia until after the locust quit blooming. Catalpa started blooming when the locust quit but even though that is supposed to be attractive to honey bees that timing coincided with when they started working the salvia.

 

[Mr.Beeman]

The bee is a "sugar bee". Not sure what it's scientific name is. I don't think they can even sting.