- Author: Christine Casey
It began with an idea forged by Häagen-Dazs and UC Davis. Recognizing a need for the public to better understand the link between bees and our food supply, the garden was created in Spring 2009 thanks to a donation from Häagen-Dazs. Working in partnership, a team led by Missy (Borel) Gable of the California Center for Urban Horticulture, the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and Häagen-Dazs developed and judged a design competition and made the garden happen.
I came on board as a full-time manager in 2013 and added outreach programs; that year the Sacramento Bee named the Haven one of the region's top ten public gardens. Financial support from Häagen-Dazs and UC Davis continued until 2015, at which time the garden became self-supporting. A name change to the UC Davis Bee Haven in 2022 reflected this change and the garden's diversity beyond honey bees. Major grant funding and donations during this time came from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Cygnet Foundation, the Woodland Sunrise Rotary, and the Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association. This support, and the time and funds from all donors, is greatly appreciated.
It's been a wonderful 15 years of information and inspiration about bees and the plants that support them. But all good things must end, and at the end of June my position as Haven manager is being eliminated. As described above, and unlike other campus museums, the Haven has never had a dedicated source of support: when grant funds run out, so do I. Regrettably, the last two proposals I've submitted were not selected for funding.
I've enjoyed meeting so many of you through teaching about bees and helping you with your bee gardens. Along with my position, this blog and other Haven outreach will come to an end. But the need for bee gardens goes on. If you're interested in continuing to learn about bees and other insects and how to support them in gardens, please join me on Instagram (@thebloomingbug) and YouTube (youtube.com/thebloomingbug). See you there!
Here are a few highlights from the Haven's history.
As Haven manager, I expanded on the initial garden design by adding more plants to ensure year-round bloom and to introduce visitors to lesser-known bee plants (left). Expansion included ideas about ways to provide for bees in small gardens, such as the use of a straw wattle coil to create a raised bed for vegetables (right).
Additions to the Haven included a children's learning area (left) and a bee hive (right). The children's area was removed during our first funding cut in 2019, as we no longer had the staff to maintain it. The hive remains thanks to staff at the Laidlaw Honey Bee Research Facility.
We moved into bee-plant research in order to obtain grant funding to support the garden. I enjoyed returning to my scientific roots and was proud to have the Haven run by bee scientists for bees. One of our research plots in shown on the left. Research informed our education programs, which included garden tours and classes. On the right is my last-ever tour group, the Santa Clara County Master Gardeners.
There were always challenges! Our top two were squirrels, which damage plant roots and garden irrigation (left), and theft, including shed break-ins and tool destruction (right; who steals the wheels off a hose reel?!?)
As mentioned in a previous blog, volunteers have been the life of the Haven. In addition to their hard work, they have been important donors. Betty Warne provided funding for interpretive signs (left), and Rick Williams designed and built our sundial (right). The dial is now in storage and will be re-installed in a new location.
Thanks to all our supporters for a great 15 years. Happy Bee Gardening!
- Author: Christine Casey
It's simple: the Haven wouldn't be here today without volunteers. Their hard work of pruning, weeding, mulching, and assorted other tasks has made the Haven what it is today. Volunteers are also essential to our outreach events. Since 2014, volunteers have contributed 2813 hours of service, which has a value of $94,207.
Volunteers who have contributed at least 25 hours are listed here. I've enjoyed working with these fantastic people. Thank you to all of them!
![Eric builds raised beds Eric builds raised beds](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106769.jpg)
![Connie inspects our bee hive Connie inspects our bee hive](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106763.jpg)
![Diane builds bee display Diane builds bee display](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106766.jpg)
![Rick installs bee hive display Rick installs bee hive display](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106767.jpg)
![Betty builds bee houses Betty builds bee houses](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106768.jpg)
![Barbara prunes Barbara prunes](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/TheBeeGardener/blogfiles/106764.jpg)
- Author: Christine Casey
As mentioned in my post of May 1, my position at the Haven is being eliminated. Recognizing that the need for bee gardening information will remain, this post is a summary of resource materials, web sites, and nurseries that you may find helpful in the future. This information is not comprehensive, and some of the recommendations --such as the plant lists-- are California-centered.
Bee books
California Bees and Blooms. Heyday Books. ISBN 978-1-59714-294-6
Insects and Gardens. Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-504-7. Winner of an American Horticultural Society Book Award, 2002.
Bees, Wasps, and Ants: The Indispensable Role of Hymenopters in Gardens. Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-88192-988-1.
The Bees in Your Backyard. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16077-1. Available in a Kindle edition and in a spiral-bound edition. Both are great for taking into the garden.
Gardening books
California Native Plants for the Garden. Cachuma Press. ISBN 0-9628505-8-6
Sunset Western Garden Book. Time Life. ISBN 0-376-03920-5
The California Native Landscape. Timber Press. ISBN 978-1-60469-232-7
Web sites
UC Davis Bee Haven: http://beegarden.ucdavis.edu
UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab: http://www.helpabee.org/
UC Cooperative Extension San Diego: https://ucanr.edu/sites/PollinatorAttractiveness/
Where to buy bee plants. This is not a complete list or a recommendation.
Davis, Dixon, and Woodland
Lemuria Nursery: https://www.facebook.com/LemuriaNursery
Redwood Barn Nursery: http://redwoodbarn.com/
UC Davis Arboretum plant sales: http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu
Sacramento area
Green Acres Nursery & Supply: http://idiggreenacres.com
The Plant Foundry: https://www.plantfoundry.com
California Native Plant Society plant sales: http://cnps.org/
San Francisco Bay area
Annie's Annuals: https://www.anniesannuals.com/
Berkeley Horticultural Nursery: http://www.berkeleyhort.com/
California Flora Nursery. http://www.calfloranursery.com/
Cottage Gardens of Petaluma: http://www.cottagegardensofpet.com/
Mostly Natives Nursery. http://www.mostlynatives.com/
Watershed Nursery: https://www.watershednursery.com/
California Native Plant Society plant sales. http://cnps.org/
Chico and Redding area
Floral Native Nursery: http://floralnativenursery.com/
Little Red Hen Nursery: https://www.littleredhen.org/pages/plant-nursery
McConnell Arboretum plant sales: https://www.turtlebaynursery.org/
The Plant Barn: http://theplantbarn.com/
California Native Plant Society plant sales: http://cnps.org/
Southern California
Tree of Life Nursery: https://californianativeplants.com/
Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery: https://www.laspilitas.com/
Theodore Payne Foundation Retail Nursery: https://theodorepayne.org/plants-and-seeds/nursery/
California Native Plant Society plant sales: http://cnps.org/
Soils and water
UC Davis SoilWeb: http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/
Water Use Classification of Landscape Species (WUCOLS): http://ucanr.edu/sites/WUCOLS/
- Author: Christine Casey
The Haven was created in 2009: we celebrate our 15th anniversary this year. I joined the garden in 2012 and was tasked with creating an outreach and education program. Tours, social media pages, classes, and this blog soon followed. This will end in June, when my position at the Haven is being eliminated.
I've enjoyed introducing so many of you to bees, providing information about gardens and bees, and answering your questions. Working with our amazing volunteers and donors has been extraordinary.
This blog is a short reflection on what I've learned from this work. Look for additional posts throughout May that will provide more bee gardening information, including resources beyond the Haven.
Some random thoughts:
- Children often arrive at the Haven afraid of bees but leave excited to learn more. If you are an adult with children in your life, take advantage of their curiosity to teach them about the natural world. Events like the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day are a great place to start.
- You're probably overwatering your garden. Irrigation information for California gardens is here.
- Go on as many garden tours as you can. There's always more to learn.
- There's a lot of bad gardening information on social media. Stick with reputable sources like universities, government agencies, and good independent garden centers.
- In shared public spaces, please don't litter or use a speakerphone.
- Small public gardens and museums are passionate about what we do but operate with minimal resources. Please give what you can and understand that we can't always meet every need or provide all the programs we'd like to.
- Support local nurseries and plant sales.
- Pick up after your dog and leash them in areas where it's required.
- Leave some bare soil for ground-nesting bees.
- There's always room for one more plant.
- Author: Christine Casey
I've written previously about the Haven's research on bees and gardens. This work included a look at bee preferences for common California landscape plants and work to help growers and landscapers provide the healthiest plants for bees.
Studies on bee plant preferences were described in this blog post, and the first year's results (2022) of our current project developing bee sampling methods for growers and landscapers was described in this post.
The current project is an evaluation of a common insect sampling method, timed counts, with a novel method called snapshot counts. As the name suggests, the snapshot methods uses several quick counts rather than one longer timed count to assess the number of bees choosing a plant. Our goal was to see if the faster snapshot method could provide bee counts with accuracy similar to the widely used timed count method.
The speed of the snapshot method could allow it to be included with other routine insect sampling done by growers and landscapers. This would provide a way to assess the relative attractiveness of a nursery or landscape plant mix to bees, allowing for both accurate plant recommendations and targeting of bee-compatible pest management.
Trials took place at locations in San Diego County, the center of California's nursery industry.
While the average number of bees observed per plant differs between the two methods, the pattern of preference is the same for both (Fig. 2). This is confirmed by regression analysis (Fig. 3), which found a strong correlation between the two methods
Our goal was not to determine the absolute number of bees expected on a plant, as that will vary with location, season, and weather. Rather, we wanted to understand which plants are more likely to be chosen within a plant mix. Growers can then compare new plant varieties to those with known attractiveness to determine how they'll fit into a bee garden.