This short story teaches there are more than just honey bees out there
Take A Closer Look
It was a perfect morning in early May when five-year-old Emma and her friend Oliver were helping Emma’s grandmother tend to her beautiful garden.
The spring flowers were in full bloom, and the air was filled with the gentle hum of busy pollinators.
“Grandma Rose, look at all the honey bees!” Emma exclaimed, pointing to a cluster of yellow sunflowers where several fuzzy, striped insects were collecting pollen
Grandma Rose smiled and adjusted her wide-brimmed hat.
“Well, my dear, let me share a wonderful secret with you both. Not all the bees in our garden are honey bees. There’s a whole world of different bees working right alongside them!”
Oliver’s eyes widened with curiosity. “Really? They all look the same to me!”
“Come closer,” Grandma Rose whispered, leading them to a patch of purple coneflowers.
“See that shiny, bright green bee? That’s called a sweat bee. Look how it sparkles like a tiny emerald in the sunlight!”
Emma watched in amazement as the metallic green bee moved gracefully from flower to flower, its body catching the morning light like a living jewel.
“It’s so beautiful, Grandma! Why is it green?”
“That’s just how nature painted them,” Grandma Rose explained. “These little green sweat bees are fantastic pollinators. They carry pollen all over their fuzzy bodies, not in neat little baskets like honey bees do.”
Opening Our Awareness
As they moved deeper into the garden, Oliver noticed something peculiar near the roses. “Grandma Rose, someone cut perfect circles out of these leaves! Did bugs do this?”
Grandma Rose chuckled. “Actually, that was done by leafcutter bees. They’re like tiny gardeners themselves. Watch that flower carefully.”
Sure enough, a small bee that looked similar to a honey bee but with an orange belly landed on a nearby rose. As they watched in fascination, it carefully cut a perfect semicircle from a leaf with its strong jaws.
“She’s taking that piece home to line her nest,” Grandma Rose explained. “Leafcutter bees are wonderful mothers – they cut leaves to make cozy little chambers for their babies.”
“Look at the ground, Emma!” Oliver suddenly called out, pointing to small mounds of dirt near the garden path. “There are tiny holes everywhere!”
“Ah, you’ve discovered the mining bees!” Grandma Rose said with delight. “Also called digger bees. They’re some of the first bees to wake up in spring. See how each little mound has a perfectly round hole in the center?”
As if on cue, a small, fuzzy bee emerged from one of the holes, shook the dirt from her body, and flew off toward the early spring flowers.
“She digs her tunnel like a tiny miner,” Grandma Rose continued. “That’s her underground apartment where she raises her babies. Mining bees are especially important because they pollinate our fruit trees when they’re just beginning to bloom.”
Moving toward the vegetable garden, they heard a different kind of buzzing – deeper and more vibrant. Near the tomato plants, Emma spotted the largest bee she’d ever seen.
“That’s a carpenter bee,” Grandma Rose said. “Listen to that loud buzzing sound? She’s doing something very special called ‘buzz pollination.’ She grabs onto the flower and vibrates her flight muscles to shake the pollen loose – it’s like she’s giving the flower a little massage!”
Oliver giggled at the thought. “The flowers must like their bee massages!”
“Oh, they do! Tomatoes, blueberries, and eggplants need that special buzz pollination to make good fruit[9][11]. Carpenter bees are some of the best at it.”
“But Grandma,” Emma noticed, “that bee looks just like the fuzzy yellow and black ones, but its bottom is all shiny and black!”
“Excellent observation, Emma! Carpenter bees have smooth, shiny abdomens, while their cousins the bumblebees are fuzzy all over. Both are wonderful pollinators, but carpenter bees live alone while bumblebees live in families.”
As they walked toward the herb garden, Grandma Rose stopped by a patch of flowering basil. “Now, can you spot the mason bees? They’re smaller than carpenter bees and some are beautiful metallic blue or green colors.”
Oliver found one first – a small, dark bee with a metallic sheen working industriously among the basil flowers. “She looks like she’s wearing armor!”
“In a way, she is,” Grandma Rose laughed. “Mason bees are incredible pollinators. Just one mason bee can do the work of about 60 honey bees when it comes to pollinating fruit trees!”
“Why are they called mason bees?” Emma asked.
“Because they’re like tiny construction workers. They use mud to build walls in their nests, just like a human mason builds with bricks and mortar.”
As the morning progressed, the children discovered even more bee varieties.
They found small, dark sweat bees with striped abdomens working on the garden’s wildflowers, and noticed how different bees seemed to prefer different flowers – some loved the open, daisy-like blooms while others preferred the tubular flowers of the bee balm.
“Grandma Rose,” Oliver asked thoughtfully, “why are there so many different kinds of bees?”
Grandma Rose sat down on her garden bench and gathered both children close.
“Well, my dears, it’s like having different tools in a toolbox. Each type of bee has special skills that help different plants.
The long-tongued bees can reach nectar in deep flowers, the buzz-pollinating bees help certain vegetables, and the early-spring bees wake up just when the fruit trees need them most.”
Working Together – Like A Team
“So they’re all working together?” Emma asked.
“Exactly! It’s like a big team. Honey bees are just one part of this amazing team.
Native bees like our mining bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees have been here much longer – they grew up with our wildflowers and native plants.”
As they headed inside for lunch, Oliver turned back to look at the bustling garden. “I never knew there were so many different bees! They’re all so busy and important.”
Emma nodded enthusiastically. “I’m going to watch for them every day now. Each one is special!”
Grandma Rose smiled as she watched her young apprentice gardeners run ahead, their minds buzzing with new knowledge about their tiny garden helpers.
The diversity of native bees – from the jewel-like sweat bees to the industrious mining bees, from the leaf-cutting specialists to the buzz-pollinating carpenters – would continue to enchant and educate visitors to her garden for years to come.
That evening, as Emma helped her grandmother water the plants, she noticed something wonderful: every single flower seemed to have a different kind of bee visiting it, each one perfectly suited to its chosen bloom.
The garden was alive with a symphony of specialized pollinators, each playing their unique part in the grand orchestra of nature.
“Tomorrow, can we learn about the butterflies too?” Emma asked hopefully.
Grandma Rose winked. “Of course, my dear. There’s always more to discover in our magical garden!”
