This little guy poking his head out is a Mason bee. Mason bees pollinate just like Honey Bees and they are a huge asset to the garden. This one is just hatching in the spring.

This picture was taken in May, just about the time that there are enough flowers for the bees to become active, feed, pollinate and then reproduce. These gentle bees are easy to encourage into your garden.

We have several Mason Bee houses, home built and installed , when we noticed a decrease in prevalence of honey bees. We wished to ensure our apple blossom was fertilized, so this was the solution. I should say the honey bee population in the area has rebounded since that time so we obviously have hives not too far away. After these wild Mason bees have finished their work in spring and early summer they will enter small cracks, crevices or hollow plant stems, lay their eggs, which then hatch and pupate over winter to emerge in spring. They will seal their nesting holes with mud to keep their young safe.

Unfortunately these garden helpers have several natural enemies in a wild environment. Over heated nesting areas and small predators which will burrow in the crevices and eat the grubs are just a couple of problems for them. Consequently gardeners now have perfected several systems to assist with their survival in the home garden. Bug hotels have been popular for many years but the design for Mason Bees goes beyond a random pile of pots, rocks and crevices. Gardeners frequently choose to use prepared tubes, which will fit into a prepared multi story nesting box. These tubes once filled can then be manually removed in the fall and stored safely in a cool place until the gardener decides they need to hatch. Some are pre-programmed to hatch at a certain time anyway, as I found out in a fridge that was being used to store the tubes one year.

This is the time, late September early October to remove the tubes that have been sealed and place them in a dark cool place until spring. In spring the tubes will be carefully unraveled and pupa will be placed on a safe hatching shelf on the east facing fence. Common advise is to place the bee accommodation in an east facing area. This has certainly worked for us but unfortunately we have found in the last few years that the area gets very hot and some pupae die before they are removed in spring. This area may have to be changed to keep it cooler.

Below: tubes containing pupa being stored in a container for winter, video of active Mason bees in summer , adult Mason bees, bee hotels