hope so DaisyB, im not sure how big they will get this year or if they will bloom a lot but im pretty sure next year they will be great..
Bees are near and dear to me too :-D If anyone would like to participate in the bee count here is an article andhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/24/MNHJ176D4C.DTL and the site http://www.greatsunflower.org/ for joining the bee count! Yeh! Bees!
I liked these USDA articles on encouraging native bees. (I had no idea there were so many different types :-o ) Helpful in planning out my garden space and knowing what they like. http://www.unl.edu/nac/agroforestrynotes/an34g08.pdf http://www.unl.edu/nac/agroforestrynotes/an33g07.pdf http://www.unl.edu/nac/agroforestrynotes/an32g06.pdf
Thanks Jewell, very helpful, I agree. Will pass these on to my back-fence neighbor too. Gave me several ideas for inviting bees. I have some stumps that I have chosen not to cut all the way down because I liked how the bark looked -- I must have had ESP -- I will drill some holes in them. Also may rethink a couple of dead branches that I was going to cut off of another tree, and a little corner where I throw branches. After reading this, I think this is a perfect little spot for bees. Thanks again.
was clearing up some weeds yesterday around my roses when a bee flew right close between my face and my son. Well it kinda scared me and i pulled back a bit while my son just stood there like nothing had bothered him and the bee just kept doing its thing and then flew off. The bee and my son were totally cool and i had reacted when they didnt. i think it was just the surprise that got me.. luckily the bee didnt act one bit aggressive.
MaryAnn Glad you enjoyed the articles. After learning about the bee problem and a little enlightment (reading) I was shocked at how many native bees we have. It is fun to watch the two different little bees using logs and know that they are bees that I am looking at. I also hadn't had but one type of bumble bee for several years, but now have a second species. Think it is because of a change in my gardening habits. Green_Numb - we had a bumble bee nest right under our bar-b-que last summer. It was really cool watching them hoover like little noisy helicopters as they tried to manuver between the awning/house/bar-b-que and into the small space by the foundation. They always seemed pretty oblivious to us, and were quite the conversation piece when company dropped by. Guess me and my hubby are just kids at heart.
yeah Jewell i love bee's and usually dont react around them but it flew right close to my face and surprised me, i think it was not knowing what just flew by my face that scared me.......i really dont like wasps and hornets too much.
I got a kick out of how the articles referred to the "social bumble bee." Now that I am thinking about it, my fig trees are wonderful bee attractors when the fruit is ripe.
I went 5 years and only saw about 8-9 honeybees in my garden, then the year before last, when my cilantro flowered they were everywhere. now again last year, even though I let the cilantro bloom, I only saw about 10-15 honeybees on itall Summer. I'm seriously thinking of buy some Mason bee tubes that come loaded with bees for the garden. John
Nearly every country is having problems with bees, there was a documentary on the BBC, and they basically said that a healthy colony of bees can die out in a matter of hours, and it is all down to some unknown disease.It's only now we are realising how important to us the bees are.
I came across this earlier when I was looking for pictures of different bees http://www.everythingabout.net/articles ... art1.shtml Its about the vanishing bees
saw my first bee to go in the ground yesterday. I always thought they lived in bee hives in tree's but i guess not. I was cutting the grass out front and i watched this bee fly down to a plant bed and disappear down below some bark nuggets. I guess there was a hole underneath? i didnt mess with it but i watched for a while and he came flying out a few mins later. I guess he was living there?.......his route to the bark was pretty direct and deliberate, i dont think he would be going under the bark just for the heck of it?
Finally another report on the bee disease currently raging trhough our hives. Thus we are still learning, deciding, etc....And now it looks like a major economic disaster as well since it has since come to light that bee colonies are worth around R5 billion to our economy.
