Tag Archive for: Circular holes

Do you know what the definition of the word ‘conundrum’ is?

I do.  Actually, I had to look it up – but it basically means a “difficult situation”.  That sums up what I am facing in my back garden.

Here are the ‘parts’ that make up my conundrum:

First, there is my wonderful husband….

my wonderful husband

You may have noticed that he is bit camera-shy when it comes to appearing on my blog 😉

The second part is the nest box that my husband made to attract leaf-cutter bees.

attract leaf cutter bees

As you can see, there are already some occupants in some of the larger holes.

You may be wondering why my husband is trying to attract leaf-cutter bees.  Well, he has recently become interested in beekeeping and is considering raising honeybees someday.

In the meantime, he decided that he would try to attract leaf-cutter bees.

I was more then happy to encourage him in his experiment.  Leaf-cutter bees are important pollinators, are non-aggressive and rarely sting.

But, that was then……

Do you know what else leaf-cutter bees do?

attract leaf cutter bees

Like their name suggests, they cut circular sections out of leaves which they use to line their nests with.  They then store a supply of pollen and nectar, lay eggs and then leave.

Now my husband’s nest box is located right above my roses….

attract leaf cutter bees

Guess what a leaf-cutter bee’s favorite type of leaf is?

You guessed it….rose leaves.

So, you see what my conundrum is?

I want to be a supportive wife…

I want pollinators in my garden…

Bees are in huge trouble and their populations are declining and I’d like to help…

I don’t mind some holes from leaf cutter bees, which won’t hurt my roses.  However, I would rather not have too many holes cut out of my rose leaves…

So, what should I do?

I will ask my husband if he wouldn’t mind moving his nest box elsewhere in the garden.  That way my roses will not get too ‘holey’, I’ll still have pollinators in my garden and my husband still gets to have fun attracting leaf-cutter bees.

I think that works, don’t you?

*************************************

Roses can handle a fair amount of activity from leaf-cutter bees, although too many holes will affect the health of your roses.  Remember that it is leaves that make the ‘food’ for your plants.

I don’t like to use pesticides if I can help it in the garden, but they wouldn’t help me against leaf-cutter bees.  Since the bees don’t actually eat the leaves, the pesticide is useless.  **More importantly, I don’t want to harm the bees, so I wouldn’t use pesticides against them, regardless.

If you don’t want to see any holes in your rose leaves, you can cover them with cheesecloth or fine netting to keep the leaf-cutter bees away (as people who exhibit their roses in shows do).

**So how about you?  Have you experienced a conundrum in the garden?  Who or what was involved?  I would love to hear about it 🙂  

What’s Chewing On My Leaves?