Native Pollinators of Raleigh
Mining Bees: Smaller than a honey bee, stout and furry body. These friendly and non-aggressive bees that look very similar to honey bees are regular visitors to both milkweed and rosemary.
Mason Bees: 3/8 to 5/8 of an inch long, they are dark metallic colored, can be either green, blue or black. They can be found in dark, damp, crevices and are known to pollinate fruiting plants as well as roses and rosemary, however they will pollinate any plant they can find.
Honey Bees: Easily recognizable by their striped abdomens with less hair than other bees, they have a heart shaped head and are often seen carrying pollen on their hind legs. Honeybees pollinate 80% of all flowering plants and are not discriminatory in what they pollinate. Milkweed is included in the plants they prefer.
Long-Horned Bees: Similar in size to the honey bee, they have a striped abomen and hairy body. Males have very long antennae where they get their name from, and they have long tongues in order to collect nectar from flowers. These bees are known to be generalists but they prefer open-facing flowers as well as milkweed.
Leafcutter Bees: Dark in color with light stripes on their flat abdomen, these bees have a larger head to accommodate for their large mandibles they use to cut leaves. They prefer to live in small holes in damp wood dug into by other insects, and they are known to pollinate fruits and vegetables as well as milkweed.
Bumble Bees: Round body and head with thick yellow and black stripes, these bees are less than an inch long. They have lots of fuzz on their bodies, these bees are vitally important for crop pollination. They will be commonly seen around wild flowers as well as milkweed and rosemary.
Carpenter Bees: Similar in size and shape to a bumble bee, however they have far less hair and a shiny abdomen. They have a flatter body and large dark wings, and are known to cause damage to wooden structures. These bees specialize in fruiting plants as well as flowers including milkweed.
Umbrella Paper Wasps: Significantly longer than bees, with no fuzz or hair on their body. These wasps are usually either yellow and black or brown, with a large abdomen and antenna. These wasps are important pest control insects for farmers, as they remove destructive caterpillars from crop fields. These wasps are also beneficial pollinators, and can be found at many flowering plants such as milkweed.
Spider Wasps: These are dark colored thin-bodied wasps with their wings on top of their bodies. They have long hooked legs and long antenna. These wasps are considered parisitoids, as they paralyze spiders and bring them back to their nest for their young larvae to feed on. These wasps are sometimes used to control spider populations in commercial fields, and they are also important pollinators. They are known to pollinate flowers such as milkweed.