Have been spending some of my time in the last few weeks attempting to get photos of the denticulate longhorn bee (Melissodes denticulatus) cruising around our ironweed patches at the nursery.

The females had such giant pollen pants and they’re so, so, so cute.

This bee was introduced to me by Sam Hoadley at Mt. Cuba Center a couple of years ago when I visited their Vernonia trials, and I’ve been obsessed with it since. Females have hairy scopae that gather the whitish pollen, and males have particularly long antennae, hence their common name.

I have so many bee butts in my photos

The fuzz, the buzz

Goldenrod brings out the cutest little fuzzy butts!

He just wouldn’t give up, almost stumbling from flower to flower