They haven’t had all that much sun in Paris this year but that hasn’t stopped the flowers–or the bees! Thank goodness, too, because less pollination can mean less (and more expensive) food. Something to keep in mind when considering what we put into our backyards, right?
Make honey while the sun sorta shines.
Note: According to a biodiversity exhibit at the Sevres-Babylone Metro station, due to the use of pesticides in the countryside, “paradoxically” bees can live better in cities. For more on the 2010 Year of Biodiversity, see here and here. For more on bees in Paris (in French) see here.
Copyright 2013, Lori Fontanes
What the Ducks! 
Interesting that bees, paradoxically, come to less harm in cities. It reminds me of the fact that we can often find more endangered native species in cities (around old railroad tracks and yards, abandoned factory lots and such) because of the lack of lawn-culture. Cities can be more biodiverse than suburbs… and certainly more biodiverse than the hundreds of square acres of soybeans and corn that are a regular part of the mid-western landscape.
Were you in Paris on V.K.?
Yeah, growing up in a row home in Philly, seems like we didn’t have enough space to have enough weeds to care about chemically destroying them. And (not that we cared about “pollinators” or “sustainability” then) my parents did grow as many flowers as possible in the space they had and…wow, I just remembered this, thanks for the memory jog!… they converted the patch of steep lawn one year to a rock garden…that’s right, no mowing!!! (The fruit does not fall from the tree, does it???) PS, yup, did a little getaway just me & my daughter. Left the “farm” to my husband (& our fabulous duck sitter) and all the animals survived. The broccoli, not so much. Well, you can’t win all the veggies!
Lori, I’ve seen quite a few here in Southern Ontario, where we are not allowed to spray. It’s fun to watch them climb into the small wiegela blossoms and disappear, then re-emerge!
What I’ve seen very few of: butterflies. It could be because their favorite viburnum died over the winter. Not sure, though. Or not enough really warm days….
Hope u see some butterflies soon! The harsh winter certainly did affect all kinds of life–plant, animal and human!!!