I was planning to keep bees, until someone informed me that honey bees outcompete native bumbles.
And I fucking love bumbles.
So now I’m modifying the garden to be bumble friendly, and living without enormous amounts of honey.
That seems a bit like complaining that cattle are replacing native deer.
They may occupy the same niche, but one feeds people and the other does not.
Yeah but people don’t make a big deal about “save the deer!” and then start a cattle ranch
When people talk about saving the bees they usually mean the ones responsible for feeding us.
Idk, last I checked the European Honey Bee was native, but I guess you could prefer bumblebees?
Peak US defaultism going on in here.
op is anti honey bee …
OP is correct
good
This is one reason why I love my native lupine plants. They occasionally get honeybee visitors, but I’ve noticed honeybees struggle with getting the flowers open to access the nectar. Bumblebee lands and his big fat body causes the flower to open right up. Gee it’s almost like they co-evolved!