Bees Love Lamb's Ears

Lamb's Ears Are A'buzzin'

It seems just yesterday my Lamb's Ears were only inches high. Then the flower spikes began to grow. Now the small flowers are in full bloom and the bees love them. You can see one foraging bee in the bottom left in the photo below. You may also spot a couple of blurry ones. Bees don't stay still very long. And if one is still, several others are in the air or about to be.

Bee on Lamb's Ears, © B. Radisavljevic

If you've ever tried to photograph bees, you know they like to move to a different flower as soon as you get them in focus. When my herbs are in bloom, each seems like an airport. I decided to make a brief video to capture a few seconds of the bees moving around on this clump of Lamb's Ears . You can see how fast they are and how quickly they move from flower to flower. Unfortunately they also insisted on flying into the shadow and out.

Playing with a Bee Photo

I did manage to get one bee to stay still and visible for long enough to get a decent shot. I played around with a focus effect to blur the background and make the bee easy to see. Bees not only move all the time, but they also hide. Sometimes all you will see is the head or the stinger end.

Another reason I used the focus effect was to blur the rhubarb chard plant that was bolting. I liked its colors, but it was looking the worse for wear and it would have been a distraction. Leaving all the details in the chard would also have made the text on this photo harder to see.

Have You Ever Hunted Bees with a Camera?

Praying Mantis Pair Mating Cover For The iPad Mini


Some insects are fairly easy to photograph, but not the bee. Ladybugs are pretty cooperative. So is the praying mantis. They don't exactly pose, but neither do they keep moving most of the time. Here are some of the photos I got of them and put on Zazzle products.

You will notice that they are all on herbs. The Praying Mantis is on mullein. The ladybug is on borage. And I did capture that one bee on the Spanish lavender for my jigsaw puzzle.

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Puzzle: Bee on French Lavender Jigsaw PuzzleSeven-Spotted Ladybug on Borage Blank Card

Which insect do you think is easiest to photograph?

An Unexpected Visit from a Praying Mantis

Until I started gardening in Paso Robles, I had never seen a live praying mantis. Then, a few years ago, I found one in my yard. The one you see in this photo decided to visit me inside my house. I have no idea why. I was sitting in the family room a few nights ago and saw this one flying above me. It landed on a wall high above my head. In flight I thought it was a dragonfly. Only when I focused my zoom lens on it did I see that it was actually a mantis. Later, it moved to different wall lower down, and with some effort to get behind some furniture that was blocking decent access, I was able to get this shot. Since it was night, I had to  use a flash, but there was also a lamp to the left throwing off its own light.


I discovered my first praying mantis in my garden one year late in October. I was trying to get photos of a mullein in bloom, and didn't even notice this mantis until I was poised to take a macro shot of a flower. Do you see how well the colors of the mantis blend into the colors of the plant?

But I hadn't seen the whole show yet. As I continued to stalk the plant with my camera, I caught a mantis pair mating, and I could not resist taking the photo below and adding a bit to it.

Although the mantis is smooth in flight, it seems a bit awkward as it moves from one part of a plant to another. In the video below, I captured it moving from the flower spike it was on to the one a couple of inches away from it. As you can see, it is having a bit of a struggle making this short journey.

Other products with the design below are also available from Zazzle. You can change or remove the text if you wish. Most of the products are blank. I used to think the plant was clary sage because that's what the person who sold it to me told me. It was months before the plant bloomed and I accidentally discovered my mistake when I saw a photo of mullein online and in an herb book. The leaves are similar, but the flowers are very different. Some product titles still have not been corrected on Zazzle, but I'm  working on it.

Praying Mantis Pair on Mullein Plant Mouse Pad
by barbsbooks