As several people have confirmed, honey bees (and other insects) visit snowdrops whenever temperatures are high enough. Snowdrops are out-crossing, and buzz-pollinated with poricidal anthers. When mentioning this in talks audience members have frequently expressed surprise that bees and snowdrops coincide. My reply is always that they do, even in UK, but in many places where they grow wild they come into flower much later (March/April) as the snow melts. Ambient temperatures are then very much higher than in England in February and insects are consequently much more active. No doubt too, the flowers are much more ephemeral, rather than lasting for weeks as they do here. John Grimshaw On 2015-01-08 23:57, T O wrote: > Hello, > > I'm curious if anyone has seen bees or flies on their Galanthus? I > have no flowers here here so far, just lots of leaves appearing > everywhere. Anecdotes say Galanthus are "good early bulbs for bees" > but I have never witnessed this myself, and I want to know if it's > true. Seems like it would be too cold for bees. Flies maybe? What > could the natural pollinators be of such an early blooming flower? > > A good question for the galanthophiles: are Galanthus self-compatible > or do they require outcrossing to set seed? > > -Travis Owen > Rogue River, OR > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/