Pollinators

I haven't seen any Monarchs yet this year.  This is from last year.

I've written before about the looming Beepocolypse and the chilling effect it would have upon our food supply.

Morgan Freeman is so concerned, he has become a Bee Keeper.

I have two dedicated bee & butterfly gardens in my yard - one in the front, and one in the back, that are dedicated to bees.  They are known to attract pollinators, and they are gorgeous.  We don't use any pesticides in our lawn or on our veggies, and we let the clover and dandelions grow to their heart's content - all pollinators rely heavily upon the honey from our "weeds".

Daughter and I have noticed a slightly disturbing trend, and we are hoping it's just a local trend and not a national one.

We have very few pollinators fluttering around our garden this year.

Most days, we count 10+ swallowtail butterflies on any given days, at least 2 monarchs, a gorgeous blue and black butterfly that we don't know the name of,  and almost every flower had at least one bee hovering over the flower.

This summer, we've never counted more than 2 swallowtails, and we're lucky if we have 20 bees hovering around our flower beds.

I even put in new flowers in the front yard this spring - Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, and Russian Sage. Still no more pollinators.  Less than I've had in the past, actually.

I'm curious.  I know I have people who read this blog from all over the place.  How many pollinators are hanging out around you?  Is it more or less than last year?

Where are the bees?