When the honey bee meets the flowering quince, the bee is "the belle of the ball."

The winter ball.

Suddenly the flowering quince (genus Chaenomele) transforms the bleak wintery landscape into a spring ballroom of sorts. The giddy bee is a joy to see.

Around here, the ornamental flowering quince, a member of the rose family (Rosaceae), usually blooms around late January or early February. The tightly woven pink buds unfold amid the tangled, dreary limbs that still denote winter but promise spring.

When you watch the bees, sometimes you can't tell where the pollen load ends and the anthers begin. 

Extension apiculturst Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology encourages gardeners to plant flowers that will bloom in late winter or early spring. The bees, he says, are hungry.

Indeed they are.

The flowering quince is a buffet for the bees and a feast for our eyes.