Welcome to the Bee Buffet

On my lunchtime tour of the garden to see if there is anything (mostly wilting) that required immediate action I snapped a bunch of pictures capturing the action at the Bee Buffet - although this large fuzzy bee (I know - I'll have to as my SIL for the scientific name) was hanging out on this lovely purple coneflower - the catmint and beebalm are far more popular - but also harder to get a picture of...

There is some concern about massive declines in bee populations in certain areas of North America.. so I'm glad I can do my bit and provide some good eats - and I appreiciate their pollination of my flowers in return... :D