Why bees matter.

For a number of years we have been hearing that honey bees are disappearing and no one knows why.
I've been prompted to look online to see if I can understand why bees are under threat and it seems that the biggest fear is something called Colony Collapse Disorder.
Simply put the worker bees disappear, maybe as a result of a virus or mites and the colony dies.

I found this information on the Guardian Newspaper's website very interesting:
Why bees matter.
"Flowering plants require insects for pollination. The most effective is the honeybee, which pollinates 90 commercial crops worldwide. As well as most fruits and vegetables – including apples, oranges, strawberries, onions and carrots – they pollinate nuts, sunflowers and oil-seed rape. Coffee, soya beans, clovers – like alfafa, which is used for cattle feed – and even cotton are all dependent on honeybee pollination to increase yields."

and the lavender in my potager....................................

Yesterday morning as I did my daily round to see how my garden was growing I was so very pleased to observe these hard working honey bees doing what comes naturally.............thank heavens for bees.

I'm linking to Susan's Outdoor Wednesday meme this week, so head over to A Southern Daydreamer to see what else is going on in the great outdoors.