I’m helping out in the garden centre at the Canadian Tire store in Okotoks this spring and summer, and my first shift on Monday was mitten-chilly! We had about five minutes of bright sunshine all day and these beautiful bees cozied up to the osteospermum and the snapdragons in the greenhouse. (Yes, I know…annuals at this time of year? But people are demanding them so the stores are bringing them in. When I worked in a garden centre many eons ago, we didn’t bring in annuals until mid-May, and sometimes even late May. But times have changed…and besides, what would these gorgeous insects have done if we didn’t have the plants already in stock?). A follower on Instagram identified the native bee as a Hunt’s bumblebee, while the other one is a honeybee, which are not native to our part of the world.

Thanks to Rob for having his phone handy!