Oak Seedlings Provide Nesting Materials for Leafcutter Bees
Here is how a modest backyard can provide important habitat for native bees.
This is an oak leaf. Specifically, it is the leaf of a pin oak seedling nestled among the common violets in my backyard.
It looks like someone took scissors and cut out small holes in these leaves. This is the work of a leafcutter bee. The female leafcutter bee takes little slices of leaves and carries them back to her nest. The leafcutter bee makes her nest in tubular cavities, such as hollow stems, rotting wood or holes left by beetles, according to planetbee.org.
I have several dozen of these little oak trees in my backyard, largely because I have decided to let tree seedlings grow whenever possible. I have pin oaks, black cherries and silver maples, three of the top 5 plants, in terms of how they support caterpillars.
My pin oaks support 478 species of caterpillars in my county, including the variable oak leaf caterpillar, the spun glass slug, the white furcula, interrupted dagger moth and the banded purple.
The great thing is, my oak trees don’t have to be full grown before they are useful to caterpillars or leafcutter bees. Seedlings like this (below) are less than a year or two old, yet they are very edible to caterpillars and very useful to the leafcutter bees that use their leaves to make their nests.
A key to “letting things grow” without upsetting the neighbors is to make it look intentional and cared for. I make heavy use of wood chips in this regard. I use them to make trails, like this one.
The trail makes it look intentional. I also like the contrast of brown and green. If it were all green, it might look a bit too “wild” and unkempt. But with a little bit—or a lot—of free wood chips from chipdrop.com, I can make trails and beds that give it a cared for, intentional look. Then I can let things grow within the confines and boundaries of wood chip trails and beds.
The prevailing alternative is to just mow everything, which eliminates habitat for caterpillars and leafcutter bees.
Hooray for seedlings!!!