I’d garden if only to grow sunflowers. 
When the sunflowers open, it feels like the garden is complete. That’s the first one of the year.
Look closely…
… and you can see the bees enjoying the sunflowers too, in their bee-like way.
As a bonus, on top of their almost perfect beauty, we got these sunflowers for free. That’s right– free. Jim makes a point of harvesting some sunflower heads every fall and wintering them over in the house, out of the reach of the persistent neighborhood squirrels. In the spring, he scraps off all the seeds and replants our center bed. The squirrels manage to eat some seeds, but enough survive that we get a good crop of sunflowers. We haven’t bought seeds in 5 years. Beautiful and free. Pretty amazing.
Anyone have an Epi Pen? You just can’t trust those bees! Seriously, sunflowers always make me smile. :^)
Y’know I’m less afraid of bees – and I mean really honest to goodness honey bees – than I am of wasps or yellowjackets. Bees seem like down to earth, get the job done kind of insects. I’ve worked underneath and around bushes that were literally humming with bees and never had a problem. But wasps just always seem scraping for a fight. Our neighbor’s toolshed is a favorite hangout for wasps and since we’ve been using that toolshed a lot I guess, one of my hobbies is fighting with them. Mean little buggers.