Vaughn: Enjoy the beautiful colors, but beware the pollen
I know it is barely March, but spring is here. It has been here for a couple of weeks and I don’t like to admit it, but I submit.
I told a group the other day that I get nervous this time of year when it is so warm and the blooms are prolific. A cold snap that we are statistically supposed to have can ruin a lot of flare with ornamentals, but worse can devastate a crop. But I want to focus on the positive. I can’t think of many prettier times as is happening in Augusta as right now. In my yard alone, I have loropetalum, redbud, purple leaf plum, oakleaf holly, azalea, wisteria (neighbor’s not mine), camellia, a bearded iris, tea olive, Carolina jessamine, dogwood and photinia all blooming at the same time.
Around town, forsythia, saucer magnolia, red maples, cherry laurels, Lady Banks rose, bridal spirea and multiple varieties of azalea are all stunning.
The weather is warm and the rains have given us a break for a few days. Grass is greening up, deciduous trees are putting on leaves and I want to go fishing. Get up, walk outside and take a peek around because this doesn’t happen often. When you do go outside and happen to be wearing white pants, don’t sit down anywhere because you will have yellow-bottomed pants.
That is right, pine pollen is here. It is prolific, thick and turns everything in the world outside yellow. I brought my outdoor cushions in the house so they don’t turn from dark blue to dusty yellow. Dorothy would have a lot of choices in yellow brick roads to follow for the next week or so.
Driving to work the other day with my 15-year-old daughter, we stopped at a light near the entrance to Augusta University and I looked over in the median. I got so excited and said, “Hey K, you got to see this.” There were about 5 million dirt mounds in the median of the road which is a sign that the solitary bees have emerged.
Surprisingly, she was not nearly as excited as I was to see them. Easy to confuse with ant mounds, the little clods of dirt are where a single bee digs a nest and builds a single occupancy insect condominium. Technically, the female solitary bees dig what is referred to as a nesting tube. This usually happens during the evening hours, right after dinner and just before Wheel of Fortune. This tube reaches 6 or more inches deep and has a single hole entrance. The little mounds are excavated soil around each of the nest openings. Usually there are many nesting holes arranged very closely together like cars at a shopping mall during the holidays.
During the day, the females collect nectar and pollen to carry back to the nest. A single egg is laid in the ball of pollen in March and April. After hatching, the larva feeds on the pollen ball and develops within the tube all summer until it reaches adulthood in the fall. Reminds me of my son playing SnapTok or InstaText on the couch but while eating Doritos instead of pollen.
The newly-formed adult remains in the burrow throughout winter until emergence from the ground around this time of year. These bees seem to emerge about the same time the cherry laurels are in bloom because they are found flying all around them in the spring. They begin the mating process and the nesting cycle continues. They are great little pollinators. Most of the time you will see ground nesting bees in areas with eastern/morning sun exposure, well-drained soils and sparse vegetation. The preferred nesting soil is usually nutrient deficient without much organic matter.
Most ground-nesting solitary bees and wasps are basically harmless. The ones we are seeing now buzzing around the nests are males that can’t sting if they wanted to. Females are too busy getting the groceries and laying eggs to mess around stinging folks.
Please take a look around and enjoy what Mother Nature is up to in the landscape. It isn’t often we get as much color as we have right now.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Campbell Vaughn: An early spring brings fears of a cold snap
