>Eunice D. Wonnacott writes of giving up beekeepiung due to a bad
experience
>with a yellowjacket (sting?).
>
>While I was being desenitized to assorted insect venoms (including honeybees
>and yellow hornets). I pumped my allergist about cross allergies.  Her reply
>was that the venoms from the different stinging insects were all different,
>and that how a person reacted to one venom was not a good predictor of how
>one would respond to any other venom.   The venoms used for
>testing/desensitization were specific to each stinging insect of interest.
>
>Summary:  Being allergic to one stinging insect does not mean you are
>allergic to any other stinging insect.
>
>W. G. Miller
>Gaithersburg, MD
>
>
Thanks for this response.  My first move, after being stung by the
yellowjacket, was to contact the Poison Control people in Halifaz.  Their
information was to the effect that hymenoptera were all classifiec alike, as
to allergic responses to the stings.  I have known for years that I am
allergic to the stings of the honeybee.  I have reasoned that I plan my
actions, and clothing, when tending bees, to be SURE I do not get stung.
That has wo;rked pretty well most of the time. This was my first episode,
ever, of being stung by these others.  The reaction was almost as bad as
with the honeybee. I have accepted Mother Nature's warning, before anything
worse happens, knowing that accidental stingings can happen anywhere, anytime.
 
 
This summer I have a new planting of  Sedum (Sp?). The blooms are covered
with bumblebees, as many as a dozen bees to a flower cluster, over almost
two weeks.  The little individual flowers are not all ready at the same
time, hence their constant return, I suppose.   It is a late blooming plant,
grown in gardens because it produces bright colour late in the season, and
stays colorful until the first snow, or later.  I wonder if it would be a
valllluable nectar source.  It is perennial, very hardy, and easy to grow.