Echinacea 'Magnus'

What a difference water makes! Big color-saturated blooms, and the girls are finally interested!

Have I mentioned that the new Queen looks just like her mother? We've been staying out of the box so she can lay eggs for nice "fat" Winter bees, and she sure has been busy. There are cappings to the very edge of the combs, easily seen (but difficult to photograph) through the observation window. Lots of young bees are taking their orientation flights, and they'll be ready to forage when the last of the flowers bloom this Fall.

Meanwhile, the house bees have been busy building, filling and capping the honey stores. The 20th comb is almost complete! It's time to do an inspection to see exactly how much room they have to work with (and how S-shaped the combs are). I'm not exactly sure when the Fall honey flow is, but we may need to pull a comb or two out before then so they don't feel cramped. We have to wait 'til the weather is settled, though.

It's hailing right now - I snapped this picture just in the nick - the Magnus and Black-Eyed Susans are pretty much shredded to bits now.

What's Blooming in the 'hood:
Lots of yellow flowers. Which one is the source of the bright yellow pollen coming in copiously?
'Moonshine' Yarrow
Gloriosa Daisy
Cinquefoil
St. Johnswort 'Aaronsbeard' (Hypericum calycinum) – very cool flowers – let's find out if this plant will survive a CO Winter!
Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' and 'Zagreb'
Things that aren't yellow:
Queen Anne's Lace
Russian Sage
Dahlias
Hollyhock
Gladiola