Sulphur-flower buckwheat is a perennial forb or subshrub that grows in sandy and gravelly areas in sagebrush communities on dry slopes, ridges and rock outcrops at elevations up to 10,000 feet.
Parsnip-flower buckwheat features white to yellow flowers on branching woody stems that are 4 to 24 inches tall. Bloom is from May to July or later in higher elevations. Found in forest openings and on ridges.
Providing healthy habitat alongside pollen and nectar sources for our native bees is one of the best ways to support a healthy pollinator population. For cavity-nesting bees, home can be as simple as a hole in the wall.
Humans tend to recoil from the sight of wasps but they are an important part of nature's pollinating community. Even though they don't collect pollen, they are effective at transferring it from plant to plant.
Male Wool Carder Bees (Anthidium manicatum) use size and agility to protect their territory. Females gather fuzz from wooly leaves for their nests, hence their name.
Oregon Bee Atlas participants have documented more than 15 different genera of Oregon bees on Yarrow, including all of the short-tongued bee genera, like the Halictus in the video.
Franklin's bumble bee is a rare bee that has not been seen since 2006, but people have been looking for it every year. Along with the western bumble bee, it is being considered for listing as an endangered species.
Want to entice more bees to your vegetable garden? Plant mustard. Bees absolutely love mustard flowers! The pretty, bright yellow flowers produce an abundance of both pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators.
When squash blossoms are abloom in Oregon gardens, bees take notice. And one of those might be a squash bee, which was only recently discovered to exist in Oregon.