BUMBLEBEES LOVE OPEN DAHLIAS

'Pooh' dahlia has gaudy flowers but what is more outstanding is the large, golden stamens which attract pollinating insects.  I loved watching this bumblebee getting a face full of pollen. 





Bumblebee with a face full of pollen on 'Pooh' dahlia

A bumblebee bum

Bumblebee enjoying the golden stamens of 'Pooh' dahlia

I watched Gardener's World on the TV last night and there was a woman who has a garden designed to attract wildlife.  She was talking quite fondly about bumblebees.  She said it is only the Queen's which survive over winter.  In spring they lay a few eggs which turn into worker bumblebees.  In summer, the young queens and males are hatched and they mate.  Before winter, the Queen and males die, generally stung to death.  Then the new queens find somewhere to nest overwinter, and the cycle begins again.  I felt rather sad about that, the idea of her being stung to death, presumably by the males who then die after they have stung.



What puzzles me is why, if bees die when they sting (unlike wasps) would they sting?  If they sting to defend themselves, then die, isn't it rather pointless (no pun intended)?