The Peter Pan Bees

Jul 14, 2009

Peter Pan vowed he'd never grow up.

"I won't grow up!" yelled the boy, a figment of a Scottish novelist's imagination. "I won't grow up!"

So it is with Peter Pan Agapanthus (Agapanthus africanus), a dwarf version of a spectacular flower known as Lily of the Nile.

It won't grow up.

And that's a good thing.

Sometimes good things come in small blue packages. Honey bees go absolutely berserk over this little African lily.

It's fascinating to watch honey bees gleefully slide down the funnel-shaped blossom as if they possess an E ticket. The funnel is a floral playground and the bees are Peter Pan bees.


By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Author - Communications specialist

Attached Images:

BLOSSOM BOUND, a pollen-packing honey bee heads toward a Peter Pan Agapanthus, a dwarf version of Lily of the Nile. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blossom Bound

TOUCHDOWN!--A honey bee lands on a Peter Pan Agapanthus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Touchdown

FUNNEL FUN--A honey bee tunnels inside the funnel-shaped blossom of the Peter Pan Agapanthus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Funnel Fun