What is this?

I planted 3 medium sized Green Mountain boxwoods last May in front of my house.

I noticed that this year they are all COVERED in these little spikey round ball type things. What is this??? They also seem to be attracting a lot of bees already.

Is this some sort of bloom??

Thanks,
Roanna

 

Those are flowers.

 

yup, flowers!

around here, it's a rare sight to see because everyone trims them back so frequently that they never get the chance to come to bloom!

 

Thanks for the reply! I think I'll trim them early next spring because they are attracting a lot of bees.

 

I'd be tempted to leave anything that helps out bees...you can always prune after flowering.

 

Yes, I would also suggest leaving the flowers for the bees. The more busy bees the better:)

 

Sorry, this may be an obvious question, why are busy bees better?

 

More busy bees = more bees in general = more pollinators = more fruit set on trees etc. The happier the bees are, the more productive the garden is. Equally, if you're a fan of honey it's always a good idea to leave nectar sources alone. Bee populations are starting to decline in North America, so anything you can do to keep them from disappearing is a good thing.

 

Nearly half of world food production depends on bees for pollination - without bees, we'd all starve. They're not just important, they're absolutely vital to human existence.

 

that's a statement worth repeating!! (so i have, lol)

i'd definitely recommend leaving the flowers to do their thing and just dealing with the bees for a week or two and then do some pruning.

bees have been in a decline the past few years and that is a VERY big deal. we all need to do all we can, in our little corner of the world, to promote busy bees. the best way to do that is to provide as many flowers as possible for them to do their thing (as well as to reproduce so there are bees next year, too).