Bee sex and other news from the garden

Bee sex

So I'm literally sitting in the dirt in my garden, putting in new plants and pulling out unwanted plants (sometimes called weeds by the un-thinking). And I hear this prolonged "Bzzzzzzzzz." I mean for minutes. So I look around, and on the cosmos next to me I see one bee on top of the other.

Unlike others in the non-human animal world, the bees apparently take their time. At one point, another bee came up and tried to join in, but the male buzzed him away. Finally the female had gotten what she wanted and flew away...when the male tried to chase her, she buzzed HIM away.

Wren courtship

Unlike the bees, as far as I can tell, the house wrens seem to have quite a period of courting before they get down to it. We've had a bird box in our yard for years, and the only thing that's ever nested there were wasps, which met their untimely end after chasing me from the garden to the house.

The male wren leads the female to potential nest sites, singing his bubbly song all the way, and he is really trying to convince her that our nest box is just the place to raise a family...good neighborhood, lovely garden, and no cats. She doesn't appear to be convinced, but I'm still holding out hope.

Garden sweetness

Is there anything sweeter than pansies?

Yes, pea blossoms!

Wait, I found something even sweeter in the garden!