Gallery - Birds and Bees

Leaf Cutter Bee #2

Leaf Cutter Bee #2


16x16" (includes black wood frame, 18x18")  SOLD

This is part of a series that talks about beneficial insects in the backyard landscape. My goal is to show that holes in leaves, dots and spots show that our plants are active participants in the natural cycles of the local environment. I hope gardeners can learn to fall in love with the beauty of these processes, preserve, and admire the protagonists.

I am an insect lover from way back and enjoy learning about their life cycles, so varied and magical. Leaf cutter bees trim ovals from leaves of roses, redbuds and other thin-leaved plants, and use them as baby bee blankets for their young. Among the many wonderful things about these native bees is that they can pollinate key crops like alfalfa much more efficiently than honey bees. Also, being independent and quiet, they rarely sting unless threatened directly.

In this piece, I show the mother bee just leaving her tunnel of leaf-wrapped larvae.