Orange Blossom Time!

I've often said that if Heaven has a fragrance, I think it will be that of Orange Blossoms.  Right now all of our orange trees are absolutely filled with the white blooms and they fill the air with the sweet aroma.  Especially at night, when you walk outdoors, the air is heavy with the sweet scent.

Navel Orange tree filled with blooms

Here is a close-up photo of one of the blooms accompanied by a lady bug.  Even bugs can't resist the aroma!

Ladybugs like orange blossoms

But there is another creature that loves the orange blossoms, too - The Honey Bee! The tree was buzzing with activity as bees went from one flower to the next doing their thing.    Look at the photo below and you can spot the bee in flight at about the 12 o'clock postion in the picture.  He is flying away, so you're looking at his rear end. He's high-tailing it to one of hundreds of flowers he'll visit today.

The Flight of the Bumblebee

In this one the bee has landed on the flower and is making his way to the flower to get the nectar.  The bee will drink all the nectar he can and will pick up pollen while he's at it and will carry it to pollinate other flowers.

Bee on the flower

And in this picture, the honeybee is guzzling orange blossom nectar as fast as he can drink it.

Honeybee drinking nectar

So where is the bee going when he's done?  Well, he's flying back to his colony, which just happens to be inside the hollow column at our side entrance.  The bees have been living there for about 3 years now.  I'm sure there is lots of honey in there, but it is a fiberglass column and I don't know how to rob the honey out of it.  Can you see them all buzzing around the top of the column?

Bees a buzzing outside our side door

Tricia keeps telling me we need to do something about it because it's not very hospitable to have swarming bees right outside the door into which most of our guests enter our home.  But we've had no problems with salespeople or solicitors since the bees have moved in!  Most of the time the bees really don't bother you - you just have to ignore them  Sometimes though, when they are swarming, you don't want to be nearby as the air will be thick with swarming bees.  Maybe one day, I'll get my bee keeping friend to help me jack up the roof, turn the column on is side and rob the honey.