Last month, Jim and I added a new rose to the front garden. Her name is “Louise Odier,” and she has been around since 1861, making her an Old Garden Rose. Her flowers are double in a shade of deep rose pink. She also has a characteristic that many modern roses lack: sumptuous fragrance. Right now, Louise is only about 12 inches tall, but she will reach a height of about 5 feet over the next several years.
A few days ago, I noticed small, perfect circles cut into the “Louise Odier” leaves, as though someone had used a hole punch to make green confetti. I told Jim, “I know what makes these holes. It’s some kind of bee, but I can’t think of the name. It doesn’t hurt the leaves.” Then I forgot about the holes, until Christine, a friend, mentioned on Facebook that the perpetrator is a leafcutter bee. What name could be more obvious than “leafcutter bee?”
The leafcutter bee (Megachile spp.) is a native, solitary, non-aggressive bee with a mild sting that it employs only when handled. A leafc...