Good news for bees on the Central Coast

Photo credit

Bee populations seem to be up this year on the Central Coast! In light of all the bad reports we've heard about recent years, this is good news. It's on the local KSBW website. It seems that all the rain and abundant wildflower growth has been good for the bees this spring.

It's too bad that KSBW spins it this way: "The buzz of new swarms is a growing concern for a lot of residents." Geez. Come on people. Who are these panicked residents anyway?

I say, "Go bees!" Ya'll are welcome at my house anytime.

Bees that build flower petal nests!

Jerome Rozen/American Museum of Natural History

Check out this story on NPR! These little nests are made by solitary bees. They are so beautiful. And the mama is such a hard worker. Aren't bees grand?!

Artichoke bouquet for the bees

I've been wanting to cut back the artichoke plant for weeks. But every time I went out to look at it, another flower had opened, and the bees were all over the place. Didn't have the heart to chop down a bee resource. So I waited...

Then a couple of days ago I noticed that all of the artichoke flowers had finally opened. So, I made a bee bouquet and put it in the backyard.

A friend told me she saw artichoke flowers for sale at an Oakland farmer's market...$5 a stem. I guess that makes this a $30 bouquet - wow! Maybe I should put that in the garden harvest tally... Plus all the other artichoke flowers that bloomed while still on the plant; there's been at least a dozen over the last couple of months.

Now, I can cut back the artichoke plant like I'm supposed to! Had to use a saw...the main stalks were a few inches thick. Now, I'm hoping for a fall crop of artichokes, though my "bee-love" may have made me miss that opportunity :)

Some plants are bad for the bees...

I just read an interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Apparently, there are several California native plants (e.g. corn lilies, death camas, locoweed) that are toxic to non-native honeybees. Native (American) bees are immune to the toxin. Buckeye trees are among the worst for honeybees. It seems that some plants produce either pollen or nectar that can injure or even kill them.

Poor bees...they seem to be takin' it on the chin lately. But not in my garden...I've actually seen loads there lately. All over the lavender, squash, cucumbers, and tomatillos.

Love Thy Neighbor and Thy Bees

A nice story showed up in a local paper today...here's an excerpt:

Her house was riddled with termites, and Big Sur resident Belinda Shoemaker needed to call an exterminator. But tenting the house would also mean killing a colony of bees that were living in the roof — something she could not bring herself to do. But how do you get rid of thousands of honey bees in an inaccessible part of your house? Shoemaker did the time-honored Big Sur thing, and asked her neighbors to lend her a hand. But only after failing to get professional help: At the beginning of June, she contacted bee experts, television and radio stations, and even posted an ad on Craigslist. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anyone willing or able to take the bees away. “Nobody wanted to make the journey to Big Sur,” Shoemaker explained. So Shoemaker started passing the word around Big Sur, and one of her neighbors, Blake Forrest, who turned out to be an amateur beekeeper, offered to help.

The full story can be downloaded from the Carmel Pinecone. Couldn't we all use a little more community interconnected-ness?

Bee love

Bees pollinate one-third of our food
+ Bees are in trouble
= The Great Sunflower Project

In case this looks like "fuzzy math" to you, here's the rundown:

The Great Sunflower Project was started by a San Francisco State researcher and several colleagues. The goal is to track bee pollination activity across North America in various individual gardens. Currently, there are 26,000 participants. The ABSENCE of bees in an area is an important piece of information for the researchers...perhaps even more important than the PRESENCE of bees.

Each participant is given a packet of 'Lemon Queen' sunflower seeds to plant wherever they live (or work, I suppose). When the plants bloom, participants go into "science mode" once a week or so. This involves recording the amount of time it takes for 5 bees to visit the plant and possibly photographing the visitors.

Here are my seeds:

I've planted them in a sunny location and will let you know when they bloom. I have a hunch that I'll be seeing some bees...

they really love the lavender:

















and the apple tree:

















Ok, no bee it that photo, but you'll just have to trust me. The bees had all gone home for the day by the time I got a chance to take this photo.

The Project's website (www.GreatSunflower.org) gives further information, if you would like to join for next year :

"We know that pollinators are declining in certain wild and many agricultural landscapes. However, little is known about urban pollinators. Our recent data on bumble bees in an urban setting suggests that urban bees may also be declining (McFrederick & LeBuhn 2006, Fenter and LeBuhn submitted). The data you collect from your sunflower willbe a start. It will provide an insight into how our green spaces in the urban, suburban and rural landscapes are connected as well as shedding light on how to help pollinators. What we need are innovative strategies to maximize the benefits of our wild and semi-wild habitat remnants. The Great Sunflower Project is the first step."