Rose of Sharon & Honey Bees

I noticed something strange happening on my Rose of Sharon this week.

It started with the bumble bees.

Instead of going into the huge, wide-open Rose of Sharon flowers from the front, I noticed a couple of bumble bees hanging around the back side of the blooms, right where the petals meet the green base of the flower.

That seemed... odd.

Rose of Sharon isn't exactly a flower with a difficult entrance. The blooms are enormous compared with a bee, and the front door is standing wide open.

So why were they sneaking around back?

Then I noticed something even more interesting.

My honey bees were doing it too.

Nobody Is Using the Front Door

Once I started paying attention, I kept seeing honey bees land near the base of the flowers.

And not just one bee.

There were multiple honey bees, on different flowers, repeatedly going to the same general area.

This was one of the first photos that made me stop and really look. The honey bee isn't entering the flower normally. She's perched at the base with her head down near the point where the pink flower meets the green calyx.

Then I caught another one.

Same behavior.

Different bee.

At this point, curiosity officially won.

Time to Ask the AI Bee Detective

I sent the photographs to ChatGPT and basically said, What in the world are they doing?

ChatGPT examined the different angles, and one possibility quickly became very interesting: nectar robbing.

Normally, a pollinator enters a flower through its opening and encounters the flower's reproductive structures while feeding. That's the deal the plant is offering: "I'll give you food; you carry my pollen around."

But some bees discover shortcuts.

Bumble bees in particular are known to sometimes access nectar near the base of a flower instead. Depending on the flower and situation, they may use a natural opening or make a small hole that lets them reach the nectar without taking the conventional route.

And sometimes other bees discover the shortcut.

If another insect uses an opening previously made by a nectar robber, the behavior is known as secondary nectar robbing.

Wait.

Who did I notice hanging around the backs of my Rose of Sharon flowers first?

The bumble bees.

🐝🔎

Exhibit A: The Bumble Bee

Fortunately, I had photographic evidence of that too.

There she is, working around the base of the flower rather than disappearing into the big open bloom.

That made our little theory considerably more interesting.

Could the bumble bees be accessing nectar from the base of the Rose of Sharon?

And could my honey bees have figured out the same trick?

Then the Honey Bees Really Started Showing Off

The next day, there were even more honey bees working the Rose of Sharon.

And now that I knew what to watch for, their positioning was hard to ignore.

This is probably my favorite photo from the investigation.

Look at her body position.

Her abdomen is completely outside the flower while her head is pushed right down against its base. She certainly appears to be interested in something very specific back there.

Another angle made it even clearer.

Again, she's not simply resting on the flower.

She's working at that junction.

So I sent more pictures to ChatGPT.

The verdict?

Very suspicious. Not yet convicted.

The photographs strongly support the idea that the bees are deliberately accessing the base of the flower rather than using its normal opening.

But there's a problem with declaring this case solved.

Where's the Hole?

If we're watching nectar robbing, I wanted to see the evidence.

So my daughter joined the investigation and started inspecting the flowers.

No luck.

We couldn't find or photograph an obvious hole.

But while she was looking, she captured what may be the most interesting photograph of the whole bunch.

Look where that honey bee's head is.

She's underneath the green calyx, braced against the leaf, and reaching right into the seam at the base of the flower.

I gave ChatGPT this photograph too.

We agreed it was time to be careful about the conclusion.

The photos give us good evidence that the honey bees are deliberately working at the base of these flowers.

They do not, however, prove that there's a hole.

There could be a tiny puncture hidden beneath the calyx that we simply can't see. There could be a natural gap the bees are exploiting. Or something else could be happening entirely.

So, for now, I'm calling nectar robbing our leading hypothesis, not our verdict.

The Rose of Sharon Is Now Under Surveillance

There's only one reasonable thing to do next.

Keep watching the bees.

We're going to try to identify flowers they're repeatedly visiting. Once one begins to wilt, we can remove it and carefully peel back the green calyx to look for a tiny puncture, slit, damaged tissue, or natural opening.

Basically, we're waiting for the restaurant to close so we can inspect the drive-thru window.

And this is exactly why I love watching bees.

I wasn't conducting an experiment.

I wasn't looking for nectar-robbing behavior.

I was just watching bees on a Rose of Sharon.

Then one bumble bee did something weird.

The honey bees apparently said, "Hold my nectar."

And suddenly my daughter and I are inspecting flowers while ChatGPT analyzes photographic evidence from multiple angles.

All because nobody seems interested in using the front door.

So now I want to hear from the other bee people and gardeners: Have you ever watched honey bees or bumble bees work a Rose of Sharon from the base like this? Have you found holes near the base of the flowers? Are we witnessing nectar robbing, secondary nectar robbing, or something else?

The investigation continues. 🐝🔎