Not only am I first, but it's my picture!

Great Bev! What's a cotoneaster?

Kate, Cotoneasters are a very hardy shrub (which means that even I can't kill them!)in the same family as roses. They produce large numbers of very small flowers quite early in spring. You can see a bud just opening in the right hand corner. Bees love them. They produce sucker shoots and make beautiful hedges.

Neat puzzle. We planted a row of what we were told was cotoneaster trees when we started a new grove about 35 years ago. They were a cross between a cottonwood tree (hardy) and a poplar (fast-growing). Only 1 or 2 are left. Bush or tree??

Thanks for the info Bev and Gramma Linda!

Kate--your question was the first thing I thought of when I saw the puzzle--how great to have a detailed response Bev and Linda.

All I can hear in my head now is the humming sound of 'Flight of the Bumblebees'!

Nice photo! I like bumblebees - but am battling carpenter bees, who wish to live in my log house (fortunately not aggressive), and hornets, who wish to live in my gutters, drainpipes, garden, and next to my house, and are very aggressive and mean! They've stung my Smokey (kitty) and Jasper More...

Joan, I hope you are not allergic! I had wasps and with one sting on the tip of my finger my arm was so swollen I couldn't bend it. Fortunately it wasn't an anaphylatic reaction so I could still breathe. I don't know about hornets, but it really is true with wasps that if you leave the nests a new colony will not start.