They're pretty easy. By us the native mason bees are smaller than some we grabbed from the nursery. The larger ones can be almost a little bossy, not what I'd call aggressive though. Generally I've bored blocks of wood, I never clean them like some do. Use a couple of different sized bits and make them deep. Some like to buy the straws and put them in a tube for easy servicing, which we don't do.
We have lots of other ground dwelling bees and a variety of smaller bees that were aplenty this year spreading their joy and pollinating. So leaving some exposed eart at the edge of the yard gives them habitat where you like them. Not many bumbles lately. Strangely this year there were NO honey bees, and then on the Solstice a hive went in to an existing vacant hive we had. That was great to see. A bit late, but it is an insulated hive and we'll feed them honey if the extra long summer doesn't happen.
