Yes, that is a swarm of bees. They went unnoticed earlier in the morning but as it warmed up they began to actively fly around. Mr. Julio called for support and within minutes someone showed up to remove the bees using a vacuum, he (Don) sucked up the bees and told me that they will be released at a safe location. Don also informed me that these bees were most likely a hybrid of an African bee, making them a more aggressive form of our usually passive honey bee. Bees may seem intimidating but remember that bees are important because they pollinate our plants and its unfortunate the bee population is declining. Did you know that the President signed a memorandum to establish a federal pollinator strategy? In 2013 "23.2% of the country's managed honeybee colonies died" (Washington Post, 2014, July 10)
What happened to the tomato plant?
There were many guesses, snails, birds, cats, the leaves just fell off but, we decided it was a Raccoon as Mr. Julio said he saw one on the premises. However, Don (bee remover) said it was most likely ground squirrels because tomato plant leaves are not usually eaten by raccoons. Just the same, we have to find a way to protect our garden from these pests. |