Many kinds of spring wildflowers depend on pollination by woodland bees -- which in turn, are dependent on the maintenance of forest habitats in order to survive.  

Numerous woodland wildflowers rely on particular species of bees for survival.  For example, the spring ephemeral known as Dutchman’s Breeches requires queen two-spotted bumble bees for pollination.  

Two-spotted bumble bees are woodland dwellers that live for a single season - only their queens survive for several years.  Queen two-spotted bumble bees hibernate during the winter in underground nests insulated by layers of forest leaves. In the spring, queens emerge and gather pollen from early-blooming flowers, in order to provision their nests with food and establish new two-spotted bumble bee colonies.

The spring beauty mining bee is a similar example of a wildflower & bee partnership that helps maintain the delicate balance of our ecosystem.  Spring beauty mining bees specialize in pollinating a single early spring wildflower -- the exquisite woodland bulb known as spring beauty.

Spring beauty mining bees spend most of their existence hiding in underground woodland nests camouflaged beneath protective leaf-litter.  The bees emerge from their nests in April and May, just after spring beauty begins to bloom. The bees live above ground for a mere fifty days, pollinating spring beauty until its blossoming cycle ends.