Spring!

Gretchen Lebuhn's picture

Dear All,

large_Bee-fountain.jpgWe are getting hints of Spring here in California. Even though it has been dry, our spring flowers and early bees are out! As we prepare to launch the Great Pollinator Habitat Challenge, our new program directed at helping everyone figure out how to make their spaces more pollinator friendly, we've been working to improve our garden for bees. Over the next few newsletters, we'll highlight some of the things that you can do.

For honey bees, water can be really limiting. In deserts and other dry habitats, you sometimes will see a whole line up of little honeybees along the edge of a creek. What they are doing is drinking! For bees to actually be able to drink, they need something to stand on. My kids and I went down to our local thrift shop and found a bowl that we filled with beautiful rocks and put it out in our rock garden. Each time that I have the hose out, I give it a spray and every few days, I dump the remaining water out to make sure we don't provide habitat for mosquitoes. It is simple to do, inexpensive and rather attractive! We've seen both bees and birds coming in for a drink.

We have re-focused our Lemon Queen Sunflower program to gather data on the effects of neonictinoid pesticides, we are calling it the Safe Gardens for Pollinators program. If you'd like to contribute to that project, you can get your sunflowers started once temperatures in your area average above 50 degrees F. Renee's garden seeds is once again offering to donate 25% of her proceeds when you use the code FR225A. This applies to all purchases that you make at their website. In addition, we are trying to identify the best plants in each region for any type of pollinator. To do that, we are hoping to get counts from many different types of plants. I've been going out and doing 5 minute counts from each of the plants in my garden as they have come into bloom. I've been surprised to see just how good the Ceanothus in my yard is for bumble bees and honey bees.

I'll send a note around as soon as the Great Pollinator Habitat Challenge is live!

Bee Well,

Gretchen
The Queen Bee