this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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What are they attracted to the most?
flowers
Well I knew that, but I mean what kind? Do they have preferences?
To some extent it depends on the species of bee. There are over 6000 species of bee in N. America. Planting for the benefit of bees is a thing, tho'. Honey bees are but one specie, and not native.
https://www.gardendesign.com/flowers/bees.html
https://learnbees.com/best-flowers-for-bees/
https://www.countryliving.com/gardening/g32157369/flowers-that-attract-bees/
https://www.epicgardening.com/pollinator-garden-plants/
I've not vetted the above sites, but they should be sufficient to get your started on 'planting for pollinators.' It's not just about bees, there are many species that have symbiotic relationships with flowering plants.
Your's was a 'small question' about which which volumes been written. Generally it's best to plant native species of plants to attract pollinators in your local area. If you talk to a local greenhouse/ garden center, and/or master gardener's in your area that would also be helpful.
Bees are most attracted to purple/violet/blue flowers.
Maybe it's my hair that attracts them then.
When I wear a red or orange shirt and sit outside, hummingbirds tend to come check me out. I wouldn't be too surprised if the same thing can happen with bees trying to figure out whether you're full of delicious nectar.
As someone who likes to record nature, if that's all it takes to get hummingbirds, I'm going to be doing that everyday now.
It helps if you already have hummingbirds in the area. But yeah, I've gotten a handful of hummingbirds pretty used to hanging out around me, along with a few other species (I even had a spotted towhee eating from my hand before I had to move).
Set up a feeder for them along with flowers (the trumpet-shaped types so that they can fit their weirdo tongues in there), start watching them where they can see you, and there's a pretty good chance you'll get them to hang out and relax even with you right there. As much as a hummingbird ever relaxes. Then they might come right up to you when you're wearing red or bright orange.
For songbirds, a suet feeder is pretty great for drawing them close.
They are all over my dill after it bolted and flowered
Hmm... that might explain things. There's dill everywhere here.