Lacy Silhouettes!

   Earlier this week, I was out harvesting some crape myrtle leaves to make powder for tonics.  The trees need to be cut back anyway as they bloom much better after being pruned.  Long branches were cut and then the leaves stripped for drying.  Afterward, the leaves were ground to fine powder for storage.  This is all part of a foraging for tisanes for the winter months.

  It was while snipping the branches that I began to notice that I was not alone in my work.  Another harvester was busy at the same trees!  A Leafcutter Bee was working her way from leaf to leaf cutting the most perfectly round holes in each one.  As soon as she cut a circle, she was off to the "bee hotel" hanging on the arbor.  I had to stop and admire her work!  Once she moved on to another branch, I pruned the one she left and took photos.  

  As I was laying the branch on a board, I noticed the interesting silhouettes the sun was creating with the leaves.  The shadows had such an interesting pattern!  I was photographing the branch to show the bee's precision in cutting circles but her handiwork was better seen through the silhouettes.  I only wish I had the camera while the bee was in action.

  The Leafcutter Bee is a solitary bee that is non-aggressive and is about the size of a honeybee.  The female cuts circles from leaves to line her nest and then packs it full of pollen before laying a single egg in each "cell".  She will create another cell in front of the first and so on...sometimes up to a dozen cells.  There is some thought that the leaf-wrapping protects the pollen until the egg hatches.  Then larvae hatch and feed upon the pollen.  They do not eat the leaves, however.

  The holes in leaves bother some folks but to me, it shows that the garden is actually healthy.  If bees are busying themselves in the plants, they are pollinating each and every one as they go.  Besides!  All of those lacy leaves are sort of pretty, in their own right, and the plants are none the worse for wear. Let the bees enjoy the garden and their efforts do nothing but help us.  Save the bees!