spring above .... fall below. Bees have been backfilling their brood chambers with the remains of fall flow after mid-summer brood zone expansion. I try to run three deeps on my hives before supering with mediums so fall harvest often has single frames that are a seasonal mix. #beebloom2016 #beebloom2016cjn #honey #bees #sunkencappings (at Edgewood, Pennsylvania)

The Maypop Passionflower bloom had been supplying mega loads of bright orange pollen to honeys, bumbles and carpenters. Passiflora incarnata is hardy enough to overwinter in PA but unfortunately the cold usually hits before the most of the fruit has time to fully ripen. When I worked at the apiary in Hawaii, we infused the kiawe honey with a similar fruit from Passiflora edulis or passionfruit/lilikoʻi and it tastes like a papaya mixed with citrus. The Cherokee in the Tennessee area called maypop "ocoee"; the Ocoee River and valley are named after this plant. It's also a great larval host plant for variegated fritillary butterflies. #Passiflora #passifloraincarnata #purple #maypop #pollen #orange #beebloom2016 #beebloom2016cjn (at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens)

green metallics of different sizes in the buffet line at #wingstem .... #Verbesina alternifolia #beebloom2016 #beebloom2016cjn (at Millvale, Pennsylvania)

5-7' high #Helianthus mad buzzing. Green metallic #Agapostemon, honeys and bumbles really working it in the morning sun. #beebloom2016cjn #beebloom2016 (at Bald Eagle State Park)