Bees in the ferns

I was outside early this AM tending to my garden and clipping the brown fonds from one of my big ferns when all of a sudden an army of bees attacked me. I was yelling and screaming and my dh came running out. I had one in my hair and immediately got stung on hand and leg. My dh in attempt to 'rescue' me got stung on the leg. Then I ran in the house and to get some baking soda mixture on the stings and realized there was a bee under my sweatshirt. I was in the shower in under 10 seconds. It hurts now, 2 hrs later, more then it did earlier. The nest was inside the base of the big old fern. But not for long . . .

Those couldn't have been bees, sounds like wasps. Ouch! So glad you're not allergic.

why wasps and not bees?

Hornets make their nest in the ground.

Please be careful- a friend 48 yrs of age was out cutting grass last fall and was bitten 3 or 4 times, did not know he had an allergy and within hours had passed away..you can not be toooo careful when it comes to these creatures

Please be careful- a friend 48 yrs of age was out cutting grass last fall and was bitten 3 or 4 times, did not know he had an allergy and within hours had passed away..you can not be toooo careful when it comes to these creatures!!!!!

The bee that got in under my sweatshirt and eventually fell out (not b-4 stinging me) was put on a papertowel (dead)by my dh. It looks almost like a small fly except for it stinger and rear end.

I'm new to Washington so that isn't familiar. I have yellow jackets that have chased me, I'll watch out for little black? ones. Yellow jackets make me swell up something awful so I'm afraid of getting stung by any kind of wasps/hornets. I have bumble bees all over my yard and they never bother me or the animals.

Actually, there are bees -- such as Solitary Bees -- that nest in the ground... though Solitary Bees are considered extremely passive (ie, unlikely to be the culprits in this scenario) and I agree the odds are greater that it's some sort of wasp or hornet.

anastatia
i did a google search and found these two articles interesting,

This is in the Washington"s News, Traffic & Weather
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=47&sid=591290&sidelines=1

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2143.html

Connie

thanks Connie for posting that info. I always thought I knew a Yellowjacket when I saw one but maybe these were little versions? A small critter, whatever they are. I always imagine wasps or hornets to be big. The nest is literally inside the 'trunk' of this old fern under the camellia tree/bush and not 2 ft from the foundation of house. You can barely see where I got stung but they all feel like the stinger is still there but I have showered 2x since then and checked, w/ my glasses on!

I bet they are mason bee's. I looked a pix of them up and yep, that's them! they are great pollenators and lots of gardeners build houses for them. An eviction notice is being served tomorrow AM.

Just a question were you wearing any perfume or hair spray or other musk origion materials? I think that that is an attractant and aggravant to the little buzzers.

No to all of the above questions. Last night right before dark I poured a tea kettle and pot full of boiling water on the spot and no activity. Have yet to get outside and check.

What you got stung by was probably yellow jackets. Put some meat tenderizer on the spots and should help with pain and swelling, if you are stung again. YJs hollowed out under a mothers in law tongue I had beside our back door several summers ago. Didn't know it until one day I watered and they came boiling out. My dh put on his bee suit and hat and gloves, dropped the whole thing in a 5 gal. bucket of water and 3 days later some of those YJs were still alive. He dispatched them. Could not believe they would do that. Took out all the dirt and most of the roots and had a 3 tiered nest. Usually my DH will get a shovel full of mud and a can of bug spray. Late in the evening he will go to the hole, spray down it with the bug spray and then put the shovel of mud on top. Early the next morning he will spray any that were caught outside the night before. That is the end of them. Good luck getting rid of yours. LIZ

Last night I saw a outdoor light burned out and went in the house for a replacement bulb. All I had was a 200watt bulb so I (in the dark) screwed it into the socket. Then I went for my evening stroll with my DW and she asked me if I got stung by the hornets in the light. I commented No. Then went to the light which had been on for over 20 min and unscrewed the bulb so I wouldn't disturb their nest. Probably over 50 wasps in the light fixture and both unscrewing and installing the bulb I was never stung. I like my wasps cause they kill all my aphids and worms.

I think they were something called "sweat bees". They look like a small housefly except for the stinger and rear-end. Someone sent me a pix of such a bee. Or maybe they were Mason bees. They were not yellow jackets. We had a speciman, dead, on a napkin for a day or two. I sprayed with bee spray and poured boiling water over the fern after dusk. I check the fern daily and no activiity.