05/26/2026
Have you ever noticed perfectly carved circles or ovals missing from your garden plants? It's nearly leafcutter bee season!
In Ohio, magical leafcutter bees are usually active between June and August. These solitary bees emerge when daytime temperatures consistently reach 70-75 degrees.
Adult bees spend 4–6 weeks actively foraging, mating, and laying eggs in hollow stems, wood cavities, or tunnels. Or, commercially made bee houses with larger tube structures. (We love the leafcutter bee homes made in Ohio by Osmia Bee.)
These bees use smooth-leaved plants to build their gorgeous nesting tubes, and you may see them cutting circular pieces out of plants like rose bushes, hostas, red bud trees, or lilacs. But don't worry. This does NOT harm the plants.
Many late-season fruits and vegetables depend on leafcutter bees for pollination. Some leafcutting bees are even used as commercial pollinators (like honey bees) in crops such as alfalfa, carrots, and blueberries.
Leafcutter bees are solitary bees. They do not form colonies or have queens like honey bees. The female leafcutter bees do the work, locating nesting sites, creating nest cells from leaf and petal fragments, and providing the eggs with food. Adult females may live up to two months and lay between 30 and 40 eggs.
This is one of the reasons that leaving the hollow stems in the garden is so important, along with lots of native flowers to provide pollen and nectar.
Do your homework on commercial nesting boxes if you're interested in hosting these bees. There are important things to know about these solitary cavity-nesters to set them up for success.
