dandelion, rosemary and native crabapple 2022

In my opinion, this spring attracted more bees to dandelion flowers than previous years. Thank you to my neighbors who do not spray herbicides.

Strong spring wind gusts made photographing bee foraging difficult and I consequently have not included bees visiting blooming ornamental cherry trees and eastern redbud.   What's left on my iPhone are a few lucky snaps of bees on native crabapple (thanks to Trees Atlanta) and rosemary flowers.

spring 2013 weather outlook

NOAA announced that "2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S."   Looking forward, NOAA forecasts the Atlanta spring 2013 with above normal temperatures and normal rainfall.  

On warm days, I see bees foraging for water, mahonia, rosemary and winter blooming cherry (too difficult to catch on camera).  The bee cozies are still on, but not for too much longer.  I am lucky, all three hives are still alive - I plan to spring split the strongest hives in an attempt to control swarming and create another hive.