be bougainvillea or some other red flower. I've just read on wikibooks that reeds are better than drilled holes in wood. Apparently the holes in wood can (presumably due to some sort of moisture absorbtion) end up with crusted caps which mean the bees cannot get out... I don't know how true this is but thought I'd better mention it... If the bee that is drilling holes in your wood looks kind of like a bumblebee, it's probably a carpenter bee. Instead of a bumblebee's fuzzy abdomen, the carpenter bee's abdomen is shiny and relatively hairless, otherwise they look very similar. They drill perfectly circular holes in wood into which they lay an egg. There are probably ways to deter them, but we've only ever seen one excavate a hole around here, so it didn't seem worth it. Heck, our cats have done more damage than that. To answer your questions, Parsimony: the bigger vessels are just bigger pieces of bamboo. Most pollinator houses are/should be designed with roofs to protect the holes from rain. Here, it never rains so we're a little lazy about that. And I don't know if building houses will solve your problem. Maybe? They seem to like your house a lot! You may be able to lure carpenters by leaving out unpainted scrap wood elsewhere for them to drill into, which I understand they prefer. I will try a little bee house though, looks like a good project for the little one and I. If