A Vineyard in Mississippi
7am walk
I am in a meadow. There appear to be no flowers, but there are tall grasses and thousands of bees. Bumblebees honeybees, wood bees. I see at least five or six kinds of bees and these tall sparse stalks are getting visited over and over.
They’re these bifurcated grasses and they have little nodules that I wouldn’t think were pollen/nectar but the bees are going crazy for them . This must be some kind of wheat.
Let's see what the great electric brain has to say.
Tall, sparse stalks with bifurcated tops and nodules — it doesn’t sound like true grasses (wheat, rye, barley, etc.), because those don’t produce nectar and only release wind-borne pollen. Bees generally ignore them.
It’s more likely:
Smartweed / knotweed (Polygonum / Persicaria) – tall, grassy-looking, with little clustered flowers that don’t look showy but produce nectar bees love.
Goldenrod (Solidago) before full bloom – looks “weedy” and grassy at first.
Wingstem, ironweed, or other meadow forbs that have inconspicuous flower structures but are nectar-rich.
Those “little nodules” are almost certainly tiny florets, not seed grains. They’re plain to the human eye, but to a bee, they’re neon signs.
I’ve never seen so many bumblebees. Bumblebees outweigh the or outnumber the other bees by 10 or 15 to one regular collectors. Honeybees I saw maybe 10—I’ve seen 100 bumblebees three or four wood bees that’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. There must be hives here. Is it the weather, the woods? I’m going to see the vineyard.
Biting ants find me as I unlock the gate. Itchy pests, these. But, I'll live. The vines are wonderfully tended. This couple must really work hard. The grasses are all mowed short and neat, every row of vine (maybe 200), is well arranged, irrigated and has netting over it as a last line of defense against the hungry forest dwellers.
The sun has climbed over the forest tops and found me. In moments the day goes from cool and damp, to hot and humid. I, like those hungry denizens of the wood, will now see safety and the shelter of my nest.
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