Do bees like pollen?

The Rose of Sharon (as my mother always called it when I was growing up, years and years before I started growing my own) is blooming.

There's something missing from this photo though... something just doesn't look right.

***

Ah, that's more like it:

The bumble bees love this shrub! Love, love, love. They cannot stay away. The pollen does not bother them at all.

Each year this shrub reseeds like crazy, and each year I consider getting rid of it. Then it blooms...

...and the bees come, and I know that this plant will always be in my garden.

Do I have any on my butt?

I mean, who am I to deny a bee her pollen bath?


(There was a bee flying around with probably double the amount of pollen on it as this last bee. It was amazingly dusty, but it wouldn't come within camera range, darn it.)


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