RVSP here for Bee Garden Design Class
we need to get the member of members attending so we can make sure we have enough room for everyone. If you plan to attend, please RVSP as soon as possible, thank you
Designing a Bee Garden
RVSP here for Bee Garden Design Class
Next month meeting.... plants that will help your bees ...
Every garden needs pollinators and bees are among the best. Without them there would be limited flowers and even fewer fruits and vegetables. Since bees add more than a soothing buzzing sound, it's worth putting some thought into making your garden inviting for them.
Bees are basically looking for 2 things when they visit your plants:
1: Nectar - netar is loaded with sugars and it’s a bee’s main source of energy.
2: Pollen - pollen provides the balanced diet of proteins and fats.
Many popular flower varieties are hybridized for features that are valued by the gardener, like disease resistance, flower size or color and bigger, longer blooms. Unfortunately much hybridization has reduced the production of nectar and pollen and sometimes leaves the resulting plant completely sterile and useless to bees and other pollinators.
Another factor is that the amount of nectar secreted is dependent of climate conditions such as temperature, humidity and moisture in the soil. Here is some advice from the Xerces Society on what to plant to attract more bees to your garden.
Choosing the Right FlowersTo help bees and other pollinator insects—like butterflies—you should provide a range of plants that will offer a succession of flowers, and thus pollen and nectar, through the whole growing season. Patches of foraging habitat can be created in many different locations, from backyards and school grounds to golf courses and city parks. Even a small area planted with good flowers will be beneficial for local bees, because each patch will add to the mosaic of habitat available to bees and other pollinators.
Native plants are usually best for native bees, and can be used in both wild areas and gardens. There are also many garden plants—particularly older, heirloom varieties of perennials and herbs—that are good sources of nectar or pollen. Together with native plants, these will make a garden attractive to both pollinators and people.
Legal Petition Asks EPA to Ban Nicotine-Based Pesticide Clothianidin
....."EPA continues to permit the sale and use of clothianidin, a neonicotinoid
pesticide, for which EPA is lacking a pollinator field study the agency required
eight years ago as a condition of clothianidin's registration and as necessary to
support the required ‘no unreasonable environmental effects’ determination."
- Summary of Emergency Petition filed with EPA, March 21, 2012
April 26, 2012 Washington, D. C. - Colony Collapse Disorder, the disappearance of honey bees in large numbers, began to be reported in fall-winter 2006-2007 and extended all over the United States, Canada, England and other European countries. In an February 2007 interview about his huge honey bee colony losses, Pennsylvania beekeeper Dave Hackenberg warned then that he suspected nicotine-based pesticides. Since then Italy, France and Germany have restricted or banned nicotine-based insecticides. Scientific research continues to show that even the smallest amounts of nicotine toxins such as imidicloprid and clothianidin kill honey bees and other pollinators.
Now in 2012 as one-third of American commercial honey bee colonies continue to die off each year threatening the viability of almond and other food crop pollinations, the American acreage planted with clothianidin-coated seeds is the largest on record, approaching 200 million acres. Meanwhile over the past decade, the Environmental Protection Agency has ignored its own internal scientists' warnings first revealed in a November 2, 2010, leaked internal document to Colorado honey beekeeper Tom Theobald. That leaked EPA memo stated that the nicotine-based pesticide clothianidin manufactured by Bayer Corp., Germany, “is highly toxic to honey bees.”
Clover
In terms of flavor and color, honey made from clover (Trifolium repens) typifies what people most often think of when they think of honey. Several types of clover produce honey. White clover, alsike clover, and white and yellow sweet clover plants dominate honey production. Clover honey can vary in color from clear to extra-light amber and has a mild, delicate taste.
Alfalfa
Bees flock to the blue flowers of alfalfa (Medicago sativa). It blooms all summer long and, according to the Honey Board, is the most important honey plant in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and most of the western states. The board says alfalfa honey "is white or extra-light amber in color" with a flavor good for everyday use.
Other Information
Swarm Help
Do you have a swarm on your property? want help in removing it, contact us.
Contacts for Swarm removal
Start Getting Ready
If you've been thinking about starting a hive this spring, now is a great time to get started. Before Spring arrives, you will want to get your equipment ready and in shape. Brush up your knowledge with any books or magazine articles you've been meaning to read. Check any frames, boxes, and protective clothing that has been stored over the winter to see what needs to be repaired or replaced.