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My neighbor's flowering quince started to bloom before the last freeze. Those blooms were damaged, but a few new blooms were open yesterday, and there are a lot of buds on the verge of opening. The bees were working the open blooms and gathering a bright yellow pollen. This is an early blooming plant that my bees really like.

The quince has been in full bloom for about 3 days now, and the bees are gathering pollen from it. This is much later than normal for this plant and if this is the pattern for a large number of earlier bloomers, we may have a much more condensed and potentially productive flow than usual. We can hope.

David's quince bushes have been blooming significantly for the last 4-5 days and the bees are busy collecting pollen from them. If I get the chance to look today, I want to see if they are collecting nectar. They are definitely collecting nectar from the leatherleaf mahonia in his yard. Maybe winter will be like it was in 1878 in most of the beekeeping areas. If not, the one blueberry plant of mine that is blooming may be in trouble.

The forecast is freezing the first 6 days of the new year. I think your blueberries may be in trouble.

There are some small reddish/pink buds on David's quince, but they are nowhere near blooming. Some buds appear to have been damaged by the last cold blast, but for the most part, this is an early bloomer--just not in December this season.

Beth and I noticed very light yellow almost white pollen being taken into our hives on Sunday. Do you know if this is from Leatherleaf Mahonia and if not, what would be a good guess?

I haven't seen any Leatherleaf Mahonia in bloom yet. A few buds were nearing bloom on David's plant, but only a very few. Are any camellia still blooming or not so far past blooming that they may have pollen?

I saw the first fully open quince bloom this morning. Most of the buds on David's plant are just about to bloom. The bees are exploring the open blooms on his leatherleaf mahonia. Yesterday, David pointed out a red camellia that was in full bloom a few blocks from our houses.

David pruned the heck out of his quince bushes a week ago, but there are a few open blooms on some small branches he didn't cut--way too early!

I received a text and photo from one of the employees at the Greensboro Arboretum yesterday showing honeybees working the leatherleaf mahonia. This is early. I walked next door to check David's flowering quince and his mahonia. Both had small buds. The quince that gets the most sun had a few pink buds that had not fully bloomed. I know the quince is a pollen source, but don't know if bees get nectar from it. I have never seen bees collect pollen from mahonia, so they must at least be getting nectar from it. Has anyone seen bees getting pollen from mahonia?

I took a look at David's flowering quince and leatherleaf mahonia this morning. The quince has small red buds but is nowhere near blooming. The mahonia buds look rugged and there are a few blooms open. I did see a honeybee checking it out.