Lavender and Pollinators

My Lavender plants have begun to bloom this week. They are about a week behind their "normal" date. In the past I have cut lavender stems to pair with the wild daisies for 4th of July mini bouquets. The variety I am growing is "Hidcote". The plants are about 7 years old now, which is getting old for a lavender plant. I lost one plant over the winter, for seemingly no reason at all. I suppose my "to-do" list next spring should include buying new plants or starting cuttings from my old plants.

In the good news category, my lavender was quite full of bees. The vast majority were sweet old bumble bees, but I also had a few honey bees and a couple species I can not identify. I do think that the bumble bees are my favorite. I am very thankful we still have so many of the native bees around when many areas are experiencing a rapid decline in their pollinators.