Well, I'll bee - it's Pollinator Week! A time to give thanks for all the bugs that keep our plants growing. 🌻🐝🪲🦋 In this photo, a honey bee is gathering pollen from a starry rosinweed flower. Its back legs have special hairs that can carry around loads of pollen!

This #PollinatorWeek, let's think about more than bees and butterflies! Beetles are one of the earliest pollinators, and have been visiting plants since dinosaurs still existed!🦖🪲 In this photo, a sweat bee and delta beetle are both pollinating a rattlesnake master plant.

A bee on a pea! 🐝 Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) + Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata).

The largest and most beautiful prickly-pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa) I've ever seen in situ! Their bright yellow flowers are producing loads of pollen: an important food source for bees like this leafcutter bee and brown-winged striped sweat bee. 🤩🌵🐝