You're listening to the Joe Gardner Show, the podcast all about gardening, where we cover

everything you need to know to grow like a pro, no experience required.

And now here's your guide, National Gardening Television Host, and the Joe Behind Joe Gardner,

Joe Lampel.

Hi everybody, it's Joe Lampel, the Joe Behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe Gardner

Show.

Today we're talking about bees, but not honey bees, they seem to get all the attention

and have been for many years now.

But this time we're talking about solitary bees, specifically mason bees for the most part,

in this vast world of bees, which we may not even realize it's as big as it is, there

are many different species, and all of these types are classified as either solitary or

social bees.

And social bees, like honey bees, live with thousands of others, and have very specific

job duties.

Solitary bees, on the other hand, like mason bees that we'll talk more about today, spend

their entire life living alone, and every female bee is considered a queen because she

lays eggs and all queens or worker bees.

And what's so neat about solitary bees?

They're probably already living in or around your yard.

And there are simple ways to attract them by creating habitats and holes or tubes for

them to live in, because their home is a small opening in a tree or in the ground, and

it can range in size from just the diameter of a wire clothes hanger up to five sixteenths

...