Over the weekend, something new was swarming in the neighborhood, hundreds of bees were swirling around tiny mounds of dirt that looked like ant hills with a larger hole in the middle.  My first thought was making sure no one or their pets would get stung.  Thankfully after research, the bees are now welcome in our neighborhood.

Ground Bees are actually very docile.  Some people actually pick them up and hold them!  Could they sting you?  Very unlikely.  First of all the females are the ones most likely to sting and they stay mainly in the underground nests.  The males, who are the ones primarily seen buzzing around have no capability of stinging at all.

Bee Nest (Beth Warden/Results Radio)
Bee Nest (Beth Warden/Results Radio)
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Best of all these visitors who stay four to six weeks each year are here to help with pollination, which is a welcome guest when it comes to the new apple and peach trees I've planted this year.

Should you find the bees too much of a concern, no chemicals are needed.  Just water the holes and the ground thoroughly.  They will move along and look for a drier location to build their nests.

Since our neighborhood research, I've walked down the sidewalk among hundreds of swarming ground bees.  Our dogs prance their way through without a care.


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