Home Garden Wildlife Gardens Frenzied Foraging

Frenzied Foraging

0
Frenzied Foraging

The poppies have bloomed.  I have to say that they are suspiciously beautiful, in a way reminiscent of an Alice in Wonderland character.  Strangely fascinating.  The honeybees are particularly amazed. I’m already anticipating their day-after-Christmas blues when the last petal falls and there is no more pollen to gather.

A quick bit of research led me to a honeybee foraging study.  “Results showed significantly higher foraging response of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in genetically divergent narcotic plant opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)…”  Interesting.  I planted these flowers for their unique form, cool casules and tasty seeds.  I hadn’t planned to intoxicate the local bee population.

Volume 97, Issue 13, September 2006, Pages 1578–1581

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

I accept the Privacy Policy

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.