ANOTHER PROJECT FINISHED!

This was the first of two bee houses David made to order last year. The first and smaller one, I completed and wrote about last fall. I cut and filled the A frame with the cardboard tubes from trouser coat hangers ( the easy bit). They worked well and the apartments were quickly filled.

Here is the original one today. Insects have left their nest, as shown by the holes in the mud sealed entrance, and I really should do a fall clean-up of the empty ones. This time I shall replace them with bamboo.

The second, larger one, lay on the bench in the garage until a couple of weeks ago. When ESP was cutting down some of his bamboo I asked him if he had any to spare, and he did. I was amazed at how thick his bamboo was but nevertheless I cut several pieces to go along with some thinner bamboo I already had, ( that bit took me ages) and I packed the pieces in. Of course the subsequent dry weather loosened the pieces so I had to add some more to tighten the whole structure.

The bamboo certainly looks a lot nicer. This bee house is for our grandson, who turns 6 in November, so I decided to dress it up a little.

I shingled the roof using pieces of bark I found around the wood pile. Then used a couple of strips of cedar bark to dress up the front. ( Hope the golden cheek warbler's don't mind)

Providing a home for pollinating insects is very important to the health of the garden in general. These holes are used by the solitary bees and wasps, insects that feed upon pollen and in so doing pollinate our plants. Sometimes they use mud to fill in the hole and other times leaf cuttings. If you find plants in your garden with round holes cut out of the leaves then you can be sure that you have leaf cutter bees ( Megachile species). They seem to favor beautyberry and roses in my garden.

I have a much larger critter house in the planning stage, (English gardens are full of ideas for such projects). It has been on my 'to do' list for a while and today we picked up a piece of wood at a garage sale perfect for the project. It will serve as a winter home for more than bees. Maybe lizards and hedgehogs. Oh! I forgot no hedgehogs in Texas unless you want to pay $100!

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY

This delightful multistory apartment just came onto the market. This green property, by well known local builder, David, is built with recycled materials including a slice of oak log, plywood and trouser hanger tubes.

Surrounded by flower and vegetable gardens and with south facing views of the Texas hill country, this property would suit all bees of a solitary nature, including leaf cutter and mason bees. No more long commutes to and from your work space. This property provides everything you need within several feet.

For the leaf cutter bees we have American beauty berry available for nest materials.

Mason bees will find plentiful supplies of mud as evidenced by the numerous mud dauber nests attached to our walls!