Most Osmia mason bees are generalist pollinators, foraging on a wide variety of plants. As a rule of thumb, Osmia prefer tube-shaped blossoms or flowers with irregular shapes. Some of their favorites are various mints, penstemon, scorpionweed, and willows. They also like legume family plants such as indigo bush, clover, and vetch along with composites such as thistles.

No matter where we live, pollinators play an integral role in the success of our gardens and the success of the overall ecosystem. As their populations continue to decline, we can ensure their recovery by providing pesticide-free food sources, adequate shelter, and dependable water.

While it is true that much of beekeeping is far from our control, providing a local food source in the form of wildflowers for pollinators is doable with a little planning.

Even if we lose all of our honeybees, we will not, as a nation nor as mankind, starve to death. However, because roughly a third of the food we eat requires bees for pollination, we will be forced to greatly modify our food expectations.

Back in the day, bees could take flowers for granted. They just emerged in the spring, feasted, mated, and generally enjoyed life. Nowadays, food and habitat are much more precarious.

Most of us are familiar with bumblebees, primarily due to their size, bright yellow and black colors, and loud buzzing. This calm, passive bee, of which there are about 50 species in the United States, is one of the largest native bees, with the queen being about twice the size of her workers.