Fiddle De-Dee!

Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but the honey bees just kept on working.

We recently visited an apiary in Glenn County, and the honey bees were all over the fiddlenecks in patches adjacent to the hives. A springtime scene of golden flowers and buzzing bees. An artist's dream...a photographer's delight...

The fiddleneck (genus Amsinckia) is kissing cousins with borage and forget-me-nots in the family Boraginacae. The flower-laden stems curl over like the head of a fiddle or violin in concert.  And when a honey bee forages on the fiddleneck, the stems bend even more.

I think there's a country song there somewhere. It bends, but doesn't break. Tune in, tune out. It's livestock's poison but bee's nectar.

Fiddle de-dee (good!) for the bees...fiddle de-dum (bad!) for the livestock.