What are some of the things we think about when we see bats (Chiroptera)? Bats can get tangled in your hair. Vampire bats fly around at night looking for human prey. Of course, most of us know these are myths, the origins of which are lost in the mists of time. But did you know that it's not only birds and bees and butterflies and various insects that are pollinators? Bats also help out in the pollination arena when they take over the pollination night shift from those listed above.

Bat pollination is known as chiropterophily. Most of the bat species that pollinate flowers are found in tropical climates, although bat pollination has a geographically wide range. They are of more importance in desert areas but they are also valuable to us here in California, not only in areas with a desert-like climate but also because there is a wide range of plants grown here with nocturnal blossoms that are pollinated by bats.

Nectivorous bats (Megabats which eat nectar, fruit or pollen) have both good eyesight and a keen sense of smell which help them locate the flowers. Evolution has seen them adapt to the flowers with long muzzles, fewer teeth, long bristly tongues and the ability to hover…all of which help them get to the nectar.

Since they are only out and about between sunset and sunrise, bats prefer flowers that have white or pale nocturnal flora. These are often large and bell-shaped and have copious amounts of nectar that emit a strong fruity or musky odor that attracts the flying mammals. So…how do bats get around in the dark to find their evening meals? Most bats have a highly sophisticated sense of hearing. They emit sounds that bounce off of objects in their path, sending echoes back to the bats. This is called echolocation. The bats can establish the size of objects, how far away they are, how fast they are moving and their texture, all in a split second. So of course they know where you are and that you're much bigger than they are so they're not going to fly into your hair.

A bat can visit up to 30 flowers over the course of a night, feeding on pollen (and whatever insects may be sleeping peacefully unaware in the blossoms) and also transferring what sticks to its body from flower to flower. Combined with the large number of bats in a colony, the number of flowers visited in one night and the far distances they travel to get to certain florescences, they are expert pollinators and cross pollinators.

Since California is a big agricultural state, bat pollinators are found in many areas here. Do you have a serious taste for fruit? So do the Megabats. You will find bananas, mangos, dates, avocados, peaches, almost any kind of fruit on the Megabat menu. Do you have an orchard at your home? Try enticing the furry flyers to stay with a bat box in your yard. There are many websites that provide instructions for building your box. You can also find websites that sell pre-made bat boxes.

Microbats are the insect eaters. These bats are economically important because they consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. Just last week I was at the Yolo Wildlife Viewing Area where I learned about a large colony that congregates under the Yolo Causeway at certain times of the year. I was told it was an amazing sight when the entire group takes off at sunset to find the insects that provide their dinner during the night.

Have you ever been terrorized by mosquitoes, moths and other night flying insects? Again, you might want to buy or build a bat box to entice the critters to your home or neighborhood. They use their echolocation ability to find flying or crawling insects and their superb flying skills to catch them. This involves gathering prey in their wing or tail membranes and transferring it to their mouths mid-flight. Insect-eating bats are extremely good at what they do. A little brown bat can catch and eat 600 mosquitoes per hour.

And last but not least. Margaritas anyone? There are many different agaves (Agave spp.) but the main ingredient of the luscious Margarita is tequila made from the blue agave (Agave tequilana). While grown primarily in Mexico, the blue can be grown in semi-arid soils in California if desired. After being pollinated by multiple bat species, agaves grow a stalk up to 15 feet high, with candelabra-shaped flower clusters at the top. The flowers give off a smell that is very attractive to bats, a sure sign that the nectar bar is open. Agave nectar can be up to 22 percent sugar and the pollen is 50 percent protein, providing an excellent fuel source for flying. By the way, a dried agave stalk makes a very nice non-traditional Christmas tree.

For a look at the many forms of urban farming across the nation, check out the film Growing Cities which can be borrowed through your local Solano County library branch. The fascinating film introduces viewers to urban farms and farming activities in over a dozen cities from coast to coast. The film also looks at the many benefits of urban farming both to the individuals involved, and the greater community.

Several farms along the Pacific Coast are visited. Some of the many farms visited include the Free Farm in San Francisco's Mission District where everything on the farm is grown by volunteers. All the food grown is given away to the community for free at their farm stand. You'll meet the Backwards Beekeepers in Los Angeles who relocate unwanted bees from homes and buildings to gardens and other places where they are needed. And you'll meet the guys behind the Urban Mushroom Farm in Oakland who package mushroom growing kits using discarded coffee grounds collected from area coffee shops. Plus you'll be introduced to two women in Portland who run Victory Garden Farms. The women install, plant, maintain and even harvest food gardens in front, side and back yards of homes in the city. The women describe themselves as personal farmers to their clients.

In Chicago you'll hear from Ken Dunn of City Farm which operates urban farms on vacant city lots waiting to be developed. They make agreements with the property owners to improve and protect the property at no cost. The farms are designed to be mobile and can be packed up and moved in a single day if needed.

On the East Coast, in Washington D.C. there's the Compost Cab which provides buckets to families to put their food waste in. The cab collects the buckets once a week. The waste is composted and provided to urban farms. And in New York City you'll learn about Window Farms that provides hydroponic food garden systems for windows in New York City high rise buildings.

The film makers visit several dozen urban farms in all parts of the country. But the most inspiring aspect of the film stems from the stories of how the urban farms are impacting the lives of those who work them and the community in which they are located. For example you'll learn about how Growing Home farms in Chicago provides jobs and job training to homeless, former incarcerated felons and others who need the training to enter the mainstream job market. You'll hear how the farm has changed not only the lives, but the outlook of those people it helps. In Detroit you'll hear how the Black Community Food Network seeks to promote food justice through its urban farms. In the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans you'll learn how Our School at Blair Grocery, a part after school and part GED program for at risk kids provides jobs, education and life skills through the use of hands on urban farming. And after learning about and hearing the stories of the people involved in or affected by the urban farms highlighted in the film, you'll be inspired and motivated to get out your gardening supplies and participate in the urban farming movement.

I will be the first to admit that I am lazy gardener. I want my plants to produce a crop of food for my consumption with very little work on my part. I have learned that for a dark green leafy vegetable, tree collards are hard to beat (but note that they are susceptible to the same pests and diseases as other brassicas; however, they do seem to bounce back pretty well each year). Other names for Tree Collards include Tree Kale, Walking Stick Kale, and Purple Tree Collard. Tree Collards are a staple in a permaculture landscape. Tree Collards are a highly productive perennial Brassica, producing delicious blue-green, or purple leaves which taste similar to kale. Like most brassicas, Tree Collards are especially sweet during the cooler months of the year (like now). Although their actual origin is unknown, it is believed that they come from Africa, and have been propagated and passed on within African American communities in this country. I have read that Tree Collards can thrive happily for 10-12 years and then be propagated by cuttings to continue(note, however, that there are other resources which say that Tree Collards need to be propagated 2 years after having been propagated from a cutting). The plants can grow 5-6 feet tall or taller and can sprawl 6-8 feet in all directions. Like many plants, Tree Collards need full sun and rich, moist soil, although I have read that they do acceptably in partial shade.

Tree Collards are difficult to find in nurseries because the profit margin on them is low, as these plants take some time to propagate. These plants are generally passed on from gardener to gardener as cuttings. But if you do not know anyone who owns such a plant, places to purchase Tree Collards locally include specialty permaculture nurseries like the one at Merritt College in Oakland, CA, or the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in Occidental, CA, when they hold their plants sales (note that this may only be seasonal). Another resource is to order Tree Collards from a permaculture nursery on-line.

December...gifts to buy, packages to wrap, blog to write, cards to send, tree to trim, cookies to bake, blog to write, stockings to hang, Carols to sing, bows to create, company to invite, blog to write, parties to attend, wreaths to make, Saginaw grandchildren's gifts to send, blog to write. Over and over in my head, all day and all night, the list never stopped. How was I to get to it all? And of course there is family coming for the Big Day, which would include Christmas eve, Christmas morning and Christmas afternoon meals, no, not meals, but feast. (Which wine should I serve with dessert?) Then of course there are all the appetizers and lots of healthy fudge, egg nog, and spiced nuts to munch on all day long that must be provided. So you see, my mind was not on anything pertaining to gardening during December, except the knowledge that I had a blog due. OMG!

I had no interest in anything gardening last month. The catalogs came as every year at this time, and they just found themselves stacked away for another day. How dare they attempt to interferer with my holiday. The closest thing I did to gardening was buy a poinsettia and knew I needed to research on how to keep it living past New Years, but no time this month.

Days ticked by, blog coming due. What should I write this month? But wait, I need to figure out my desserts for Christmas dinner. Blog due tomorrow. I'll get it done as soon as I finish getting these greens attached to my banister. Blog due today. I need to get my oven cleaned and refrigerator cleared before family arrives. Blog due yesterday.
And so it went, as did the big day and the meals and the sugar and the wine and egg nog and the tree. December over and no blog.

Now in the quiet of the new year, I have time to reflect on the real reason I did not write a December submission.
Deep down, I knew I wanted to write an article about my Frankie Tree. What, you might ask, is a Frankie Tree? Well, sit down here by the fire and I will tell you. I voluntarily cashier at Opportunity House's thrift store and over the years have made friends with a number of our regular customers. Fran* and Frankie* came in often. They were an older couple, not on their first marriage, very obviously in love and very devoted to each other. Frankie spent his time in the store talking up a blue streak to the staff, and Fran enjoyed buying books and various other collectables. As I got to know Fran, we discovered a mutual love for plants and gardens, and she would bring me seeds and starts and I would do the same for her. It was a special day that she brought me the beginning of a smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria) which I kept on my kitchen window sill for quite some time before it decided it wished to live no longer and went to tree heaven. Then one day as she was paying for her books, Fran informed me that Frankie had Alzheimer's. Frankie continue to come into the store on a regular basis, still talking a blue streak, but the streak was not as straight as it had been. His changes were obvious and the burden now in Fran's life was even more so.

The last day Fran and Frankie came into the store as a couple, Fran brought me another smoke tree sapling. "Hope this one takes," she said, and she informed me that Frankie would soon be going to a facility that took care of people with Alzheimer's, as she had reached her limit. At that moment, I decided to name my new plant after Frankie, so I would keep him in mind and send prayers and good wishes often. The plant has done remarkably well and is still growing upward on my window, but that is not the most amazing thing. Along with the tree, a fern like plant has voluntarily emerged in the same little pot-- a beautiful lacy green plant, developing new fronds every few days.

So what does this have to do with me not writing a blog? You see, I have not seen Fran for quite some time now, and I do not know how Frankie is doing, and I am afraid to ask. This causes a sadness I was not willing to face in December. And I do not know the name of the fern flourishing in my Frankie tree pot, and this makes me embarrassed as a Master Gardener. No time to do the research, but time to make the egg nog. Shame on me.

Bless you, Frankie, where ever and however you are.

* not their real names