Spring 2009
Mon, 05/04/2009 - 18:48 — Gretchen Lebuhn
Dear All,
If you haven’t gotten seeds yet, the next shipment is going on the week of May 11th! We have over 65,000 people who have requested seeds. I am just thrilled. We also were featured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle complete with photos. I'll post a link on the website! I also still don't have funds for any staff so, please be patient if you email us. I have a couple of announcements.
First, as you wait for an opportunity to watch bee activities on your Lemon Queen Sunflowers, we have two things you can do.
- While we really want Sunflower data from everyone, many people have asked if they can collect data from some other species. So, we have expanded the list of plants that we are collecting data from to include Bee balm, Cosmos (only the purple one), Tickseed, Rosemary, Lacy Phacelia, Purple coneflower and Goldenrod. When you go to the submit observations page, you will have the option to choose Lemon Queen sunflower or any of these from the pull down menu. You can follow the same procedure that you do for a sunflower. If you would really like to send us data from a plant not on the list, please do so, however, it isn’t really useful to us unless we have many people collecting from exactly the same varieties. We also do not want to bias our data by having everyone only pick the plant that has the most bees in their garden!!
- Please consider monitoring phenology of your sunflowers! We have partnered with the USA National Phenology Network (www.usanpn.org) to assist in monitoring the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. We invite you to track the timing of the first leaf appearance, first flower appearance, last flower, ripe seeds, and senescence (death) in your sunflowers. Please see the Great Sunflower Project website for more details. By the end of next week, you will see a form called Submit phenology data where you can enter those data.
We will be sending out information on how to take pictures in our next email.
Enjoy the spring!
Gretchen
The Queen Bee
Comments
Seeds need proper condition to grow
growing of plants form seed is not an wasy tak one must know how to bow the seeds how much water to give and the right time to put the seed in.We have to take specail care.
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I'm not sure if they
I'm not sure if they reseeded themselves, or if one of the batches of seeds I planted last year have germinated. I will plant the new seeds somewhere else, I guess. Looking forward to observing the bees this summer!
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planted
I couldn't plant my seeds until I came home this month. (June) Once again they are not growing. :-( We have had 100 degrees for four days now. Moisten the soil in the a.m. but soon it is dry. Guess I have to leave the research to others.
Yay just Yay, seedlings are sprouting!
We had cold weather in central Ohio up until last week, even a frost last week! I planted my seeds ~9(?) and I have 6 that have sprouted. I planted this year's in a different area. I am on the lookout for seedlings from last year's seeds where none germinated, hoping dormant seeds got a real treatment of Ohio winter and decide to get to work. I have a ton of carpenter bees that are more interested in the red cedar fence than any of the perennials currently blooming. I'm not counting because none of the flowers blooming now are on your list. I'm keeping my phenology data for when that page is up and running. Great start to the year and we are psyched for bee action!
i found my paper
i found my paper
Here in the Greater NYC Area
Here in the Greater NYC Area we have had Frost still. The last Date of Frost is usually the same Dat=y Date of the Landing of the Three Ships in Jamestowne, VA where American Democracy was started on 05/14/1607 A.D.
BEE Strong. BEE Powerful. BEE good. ^~^>3*~~~~zzzz
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GOD Bless America! Land of the BEE!
Bees are dying now Worldwide. Our oceans have not many fish.. We need to train others and teach conservation and methods of
Seedlings Have Sprouted!
The seed packet arrived about 3 weeks ago. The seeds appeared to have gotten crushed in the mail, but I was still able to coax 7 seedlings out of the squashed contents. The cotyledons have shown and I will transplant as soon as I see real leaves.
Thanks,
Pamela in Los Angeles
Seeds are growing!
Thanks for the seeds! They have germinated much better than last year! I planted 9 seeds in pots and 8 babies have popped up. I decided to start some early and in a couple of weeks I will plant some more seeds.
Last year the bees did not want to land on my sunflowers, this year I'm planting some right in front of the plume poppy so I will get some action!
I do have some of the plants listed as ones we can chart growing in my yard so if they snub the sunflowers at least I can count on the others.
I will do some in pots this year also as those were the only ones that germinated last year in case the direct sow is a failure. I hope to have flowers way earlier than last year.
Thanks for sending the seeds!
Leasa
Eastport, Maine
no seeds
We have not received our seeds yet. Please send some next time.
David
We have several very large
We have several very large bees and a few smaller ones that we see every day as we check out our garden, tree transplants, blueberries and various flowers throughout our yard. I don't recognize the large bees that we have in comparison to the ones on your bee guide, so I'll be doing some research.
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A question
I did receive my seeds, thank you. It's been incredibly rainy on Long Island in New York, and I haven't planted them yet. However, when I looked at the pot that contained last year's batch, it seems I have a whole bunch of sunflowers already coming up. I'm not sure if they reseeded themselves, or if one of the batches of seeds I planted last year have germinated. I will plant the new seeds somewhere else, I guess. Looking forward to observing the bees this summer!
Dormancy!
Actually, it turns out the main issue with last year's seed is that it had dormancy issues! The seeds needed a some time or possibly a cold treatment before the majority would germinate. So, I'm guessing those are seeds that finally got the signal to germinate! You wouldn't believe how much I've learned about commercial seeds in the last year.
Gretchen
RESEEDING
More than likely some of the seeds fell from your flower last year and has reseeded themself. Not uncommon for sunflowers. I am new to web site and have not as yet received my seeds. Looking forward to receiving mine. Unfortunately I live in the county and have lots of squirrles and chimpmucks so have to plant seeds indoors and then transplant outside. They don't realize that this is food for them in the fall.
Success!
We were excited to receive our seeds about two weeks ago; however, they must have gotten crushed in the mail and only a 3-5 seeds remain intact. We did manage to plant all of them (less than a week ago) and are happy to report that we've had two sprout through the dirt just yesterday or today.
We are excited. We have several very large bees and a few smaller ones that we see every day as we check out our garden, tree transplants, blueberries and various flowers throughout our yard. I don't recognize the large bees that we have in comparison to the ones on your bee guide, so I'll be doing some research.
Thank you again and good luck!
The Hall Family
Take a photo!
If you send me a photo of a bee, I"ll do my best to tell you what it is!