Q. How do bees find the flowers in the container garden on the fourth-floor deck of my city apartment?

A. Foraging bees use the same methods to find nectar and pollen four floors up that they use at ground level.

Honeybees routinely fly two miles from their hives in their search for raw material for honey; it doesn’t require much extra energy to fly several stories up.

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It takes only one scout to report a promising garden to the rest of the hive with a famous waggle dance. The scout relies on its sophisticated eyes, which are tuned to a variety of wavelengths, including ultraviolet color patterns in flowers that are invisible to people.