Bereft of Bees

It seems, my friends, that the polar vortex did more damage than I had expected. The wildflowers have recovered better than I expected they would; speedwell, henbit, deadnettle, shepherd's purse, and dandelions have mixed with creeping charlie and wild lettuce to create quite the meadow in my back yard. But it is a meadow sadly bereft of wings. I've seen maybe a dozen or so bees in a week. Normally it would be unsafe to walk in my yard because of the dozens of bees everywhere, and normally my plum tree draws hundreds of them, but not this year. I think maybe they got frozen out when the temp dropped down to -11 F (-24C), since they're ground nesters. Certainly the soil in my big pots stayed frozen solid for a month or more after that, so I know the ground did as well.

I don't know how to handle this dearth of pollinators. There was one white butterfly the other day, one wasp yesterday. The few bees that are out now are likely building nests and laying eggs which will give me more bees next spring, but what if we get another really harsh winter? I want to encourage the native bees, not supplant them, but do I really have a choice? If I don't see more pollinators after the rain comes on Wednesday, I may have to order orchard mason bees.