Grudging Admiration

Fall is in the air in Idaho, and the bees are frantically busy in the yard, burying themselves from dawn to dusk in patches of lavender, sage and oregano. I envy their industriousness, as I’ve been fighting a cold and haven’t felt like doing much of anything.

I also confess some admiration for the wasps that are part of my local ecosystem. It’s grudging admiration, but this year the wasps have amazed me with their inventiveness.

Apparently not content to build nests in the eaves of my backyard shed, which is their usual M.O., I’ve knocked down nests inside the layers of Plexiglas in my greenhouse walls … tucked beneath the handles on my trash cans … and yes, as shown in the photo, even nestled inside the bulbs in my outdoor light fixtures.

I’m not sure how to explain this behavior. It was an unusually dry, hot, smoky summer, so maybe they had to get more creative to survive?

A Newsweek article out this week also sticks up for the lowly wasp, and it’s worth a read. When research papers on the ecological importance of bees to the planet outnumber those on the importance of wasps by 40 to 1, a compelling case is made for these scrappy, scary little underdogs.

I can't promise I'll put the wasp-and-hornet spray away for the year, but at least I'll think twice about using it so liberally. Live and let live.