bees Archives -

The Intelligence of Flowers

By Simone Lipscomb | March 19, 2013

Color, shape, patterns...part of the attraction dance between flowers and pollinators. — Color, shape, patterns…part of the attraction dance between flowers and pollinators.

Colorful with geometries and patterns that dazzle us humans, imagine what flowers do to their pollinators. I totally understand how butterflies flutter away from flowers in drunken delight. Can you imagine living your life so intimately connected and totally dependent on your relationship with flowers?

Recently results from a study on these blooming wonders gave us even more to admire about them. They use an electrical field to attract bees. Not only do flowers use ultraviolet spectrum colors we cannot see, petal temperature, texture and shape to attract pollinators, they use electricity.

Come on baby....wow! You turn me on!! — Come on baby….wow! You turn me on!!

Daniel Robert and a team of researchers published their study which proved that flowers emit a slight negative charge that attracts bees, which carry a positive charge. Just seconds before a bee visits a flower, there is electrical activity in the plant resulting from the nearby bee. After the bee leaves, the energy field of the flower stays altered for 100 seconds or so and this serves as a warning for the next bee that the flower has recently been visited.

I believe in the intelligence of nature. Not a ‘thinking’ intelligence that results from a logical brain, but a natural, instinctual intelligence that bypasses a need to think about anything….an inner wisdom.

The flower isn’t thinking….come on baby….check out this pollen…ooh let me make some more of that nectar and flash a deeper ultraviolet color. Feel my electricity baby!! None of that takes place. It’s just a dance between flowers and their pollinators. A beautiful, magical, mystical dance of attraction.

Wouldn’t it be nice to simply be yourself and be accepted for your beauty. To dance your soul’s dance without holding back. To love and accept others as they love and accept you without judgement.

I wish I had the intelligence of flowers.

Good Bee Karma

By Simone Lipscomb | March 8, 2013

I was finishing up a lovely SUP board paddle on the river and just before the turn at the rocks, I saw a bee struggling in the water. In fact, I saw three. As usual, I stopped to give assistance. I love bees, I appreciate the work they do for us all, and I always stop and rescue them when they lie buzzing helplessly on the surface.

And as usual, I was talking to them, telling them I was only trying to help and asking why they were grouped so close together. In concentrating on scooping them with the paddle blade and gently placing them on the front of my board to dry out, I missed something. What was it? Oh, yes. The answer to my question posed to the third bee I plucked from the river.

That sound. What was it? What was that loud…….humming…..sound?

About the time I realized that the sound was from a disturbed hive of wild honey bees, I started paddling. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the enormous and apparently upset swarm. It’s no lie to say that my knees were knocking as I carefully but speedily made my way up river. I think my board was jumping, so strong was the knee-knocking.

The first bee I saved had dried and flown back to his friends and I prayed that he created a buzz about my kind and gentle nature. The other two bees were still waterlogged so they rode to the take-out beach where I held a dry stick for them to crawl onto. I then placed them on a piece of driftwood in the sun.

I made haste in walking back to the house and I kept an ear out for the sound of bees chasing my purple shirt. I know I could have jumped in the water had they attacked, but the Cold Hole is cold in the summer. This time of year it is truly freezing. So it was with deep gratitude that I discovered I have racked up enough good bee karma to avoid any stings or even a fly-by. This really helped boost my gratitude practice in leaps and bounds!

Cypress tree at Peacock Springs State Park

Post script: After writing the blog I jumped in the car for a quick visit to the post office. Science Friday on Talk of the Nation (NPR station)was on and the subject was bees. The woman being interviewed even had bees with her and they were buzzing in the background. Not only THAT…but one of the guys they were interviewing was talking about research he did in North Florida in Alachua County….one of my favorite places and a runner-up for a home base when I moved. And….yesterday I was just thinking about how nice it would be to have a little place over there….someday. The two trips through the area this winter have brought my attention to the gentle beauty of the area and have reminded me how much it speaks to me. I love it dearly.

And now, as I do the final edit on this blog, a big bee is at my window buzzing and trying to get inside. Obviously I’m supposed to pay attention!

I think Einstein said that coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous. If so, I wonder what the message is….Alachua Florida…what’s up with that? Time will tell and I’ll look back on this scary bee interaction and the out-of-the-blue story on bees in Alachua and my recent longing for more time there and say WOW! That was a breadcrumb from Spirit.