Native redbuds feed native bees

Cercis canadensis, our native eastern redbud, is an early bloomer. With protein rich pollen and sweet nectar, it’s an important food source for many native bees, including the blueberry bumble bee. Blueberries, Vaccinium species, are native to North America, and breeding and selection have made them an important crop for growers. Pollination is somewhat tricky as blueberry pollen is sticky and even if it fell on its own, it wouldn’t land on the female stigma. Buzz pollination, when a bee uses its powerful flight muscles to vibrate the flower, results in the insect’s being dusted with pollen which it transfer to female flowers while foraging. Honeybees don’t employ buzz pollination, and although used by growers are not the most effective for blueberry pollination. Fortunately, early emerging blueberry bumblebees and other native pollinators are nourished by redbuds.