There will be lots happening at the Haven this year for bee, plant, and nature lovers. In addition to the garden events listed below, we'll also be at other locations: we'll have a display at the Yolo Basin Foundation's Duck Days on February 21, and I'll be speaking about water-wise pollinator gardening on March 11 at the City of Woodland's Water-Wise Wednesdays program. On April 18 I will have a native bee display and bee gardening information at Wildflower Wonders, the spring plant sale of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.

Keep those bee gardens growing!

March 28

The California Center for Urban Horticulture's Create a Living Landscape workshop will conclude with a tour of the Haven. We'll have bee houses for sale to help support the garden.

Cavity-nesting bee house painted with a flower design. Houses like this will be for sale at many of the Haven's events this year.

April 11

The Haven will be a stop on the Gardens Gone Native tour sponsored by the Sacramento chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Docents will be on hand from 10am to 3pm to answer questions about the garden's native plants and native bees.

April 23. Please note this is a revised date for this event.

Native bees lunchtime drop-in. New at the Haven this year are lunchtime drop-in days, each featuring a topic related to the garden with docents present to answer questions or give informal tours. Stop by anytime between 12 and 1:30pm to view native bees and their host plants; native bee houses will also be for sale.

May 2

The Haven is five years old! Join us between 10am and 2pm for a fifth anniversary celebration. There will be informal tours and lectures, an observation honey bee hive, and lots more.

Garden visitors at an open house in 2014. Join us for one of 2015's many events to learn about bee gardening.

May 8

National Public Gardens Day open house. Join us between 5:30 and 7pm for informal tours, information about bee watching and ID, and an observation honey bee hive. We'll have bee houses for sale and free plants (while they last) to get your bee garden started.

May 9

The Haven will host a reception as part of the Keeping Bees Healthy symposium sponsored by the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. The symposium is intended for a general audience at the level of high school students and up; student registration is only $15!

June 19

National Pollinator Week open house. Join us between 5:30 and 7pm for informal tours, information about bee watching and identification, and an observation honey bee hive. We'll have bee houses for sale and free zinnia seeds (while they last) to help your bee garden grow well into the fall.

Honey bee, Apis mellifera in zinnia flower. Zinnias are easy to grow and will bloom until frost, providing important fall bee forage.

July 17

Native ants lunchtime drop-in. New at the Haven this year are lunchtime drop-in days, each featuring a topic related to the garden with docents present to answer questions or give informal tours. Stop by anytime between 12 and 1:30pm to view and learn about native ants. Like bees, ants are social insects with amazing biology and life histories.

September 25

Honey bees lunchtime drop-in. New at the Haven this year are lunchtime drop-in days, each featuring a topic related to the garden with docents present to answer questions or give informal tours. Stop by anytime between 12 and 1:30pm to view honey bees and their fall host plants as well as an observation bee hive.

October 2

Fall open house. Join us between 5:30 and 7pm for informal tours, information about bee watching and identification, and an observation honey bee hive. We'll have bee houses for sale to help support the garden.

From a human perspective, we don't often think of February as an important time for flowering plants, but for bees it's another matter. Honey bees are out foraging when it's sunny and over 55 degrees, while native bumble bees that become active early in the year are in need of pollen and nectar resources to grow their colonies. The solitary bee Osmia lignaria -- an important alternate pollinator in early fruit and nut crops -- is also active.

A group of native plants that provide resources for all these bees with their February flowers are the currants. The first to bloom is chaparral currant, Ribes malvaceum; we grow the cultivar 'Dancing Tassels' at the Haven. This plant starts to flower in January and will continue its showy display through February. In addition to bees, look for lots of hummingbirds on this plant.

Following close behind is fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, Ribes speciosum. Primarily a hummingbird plant, the photo shows how accessible the pollen is for small bees. We don't grow this at the Haven, as it has large thorns that could be a visitor hazard. It can be espaliered up a fence, where the thorns can serve as a living security system. Another consideration when siting this plant is that it copes with our summer heat by losing its leaves in July.

Honey bee nectars on chaparral currant, Ribes malvaceum. The nectary is at the base of the flower, which gives an indication of the bee's tongue length.

Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, Ribes speciosum flowers. This plant is used primarily by hummingbirds. Also note the large thorns on the stems.

Next to bloom, and the most commonly planted, is the evergreen currant, Ribes viburnifolium. This plant's stems tend to arch over and root where they contact the ground, creating a dense groundcover. I've often seen this plant placed in full sun, which it can't tolerate, leading to leaf scorch and poor growth. A better location is under native oaks or any other dry, shaded spot. Although the flowers are not showy, they are still valuable for bees.

Evergreen currant, Ribes viburnifolium, in bloom. This plant grows to create dense mats and makes a good groundcover under native oaks.

Evergreen currant, Ribes viburnifolium, flower. While not large or showy, these flowers are a good bee resource at a time when not much else is blooming.

The last plant in this group to bloom is golden currant, Ribes aureum, which will start to flower around the middle of the month. Its bright yellow flowers make it a good, low-water substitute for non-native forsythia. It can tolerate a range of watering regimes; at the Haven we grow it in both a wet area next to a bee waterer and in a dry area under a valley oak. It tends to stay smaller and lose its leaves earlier (around late August) in the dry area but still flowers well.

Here's a honey bee on golden currant, Ribes aureum, with a heavy pollen load.

Female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, covered with golden currant pollen.

Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.) are a diverse group of California native plants that serve as a great winter resource for bees, especially native bees that fly early such as Osmia spp. and Bombus melanopygus. They are shrubs (mostly) and groundcovers (a few) that should be used in more California gardens. The waxy green leaves, peeling bark, smooth reddish to mahogany branches, and upright leaves are attractive throughout the year. These plants have stomates on both sides of the leaf so leaves are held perpendicular to the ground, rather than parallel, to minimize sun exposure and water loss. Some begin flowering in late fall, while most flower in January and February. In my own garden these held up well to drought this summer without any supplemental watering.

One of the earlist to bloom is manzanita 'White Lanterns'. Here it is blooming at the Haven in late October.

The California Native Plant Society has a nice article on this group; I also use the websites of Las Pilitas Nursery and California Flora Nursery to learn about new species for inclusion in the Honey Bee Haven.

According to California Bees and Blooms, two of the best for bees are the Arctostaphylos densiflora cultivars 'Sentinel' and 'Howard McMinn'. These two are also among the easiest to grow and fastest to reach mature size; the former tends to be upright while 'Howard McMinn' tends to be more rounded in shape. It is also the most adaptable; this UC Davis Arboretum All-Star can tolerate heavier soils than most manzanitas as well as some summer irrigation. Two other great cultivars for gardens are 'Austin Griffiths' and 'Sunset'.

Manzanita 'Sentinel' flowering. This plant is three feet tall and wide and was planted three years ago from a one-gallon plant.

Close view of manzanita 'Sentinel' flowers

Manzanita 'Austin Griffiths' flowers

Honey bee nectars on 'Howard McMinn' manzanita. This cultivar is a UC Davis Arboretum All-Star and grows under a variety of conditions.

Manzanitas host a gall aphid, Tamalia coweni. The aphid lays eggs in manzanita leaves and hormones secreted by the developing aphid induce formation of a gall on the leaves.  Cut these open to view the developing aphids inside; they are not considered to be a plant pest.

Manzanita leaf gall aphid, Tamalia coweni on manzanita 'Sentinel'. These are an interesting curiousity and not considered to be a pest.

On Veteran's Day we honor our military veterans. Like our bees, they work hard and make contributions that many of us take for granted. In recognition of their service, some agricultural and beekeeping organizations provide financial support and training to veterans who would like to make beekeeping their profession.

Our central California weather is conducive to year-round honey bee activity, so including plants that are blooming on Veteran's Day in your bee garden will support honey bees and the occasional native bee that may still be active. On any sunny day with temperatures over 55 degrees Haven visitors will see bees in the garden. Here are some of the red, white, and blue flowers you'll see them foraging on this time of year:

Red (bees do not see red but will use these flowers):

Autumn sage (Salvia greggii) cultivars ‘Hot Lips' and ‘Lipstick'

Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)

Autumn sage 'Lipstick' produces bright red flowers in the spring and fall. These are used by bumblee bees, carpenter bees, and honey bees.

Honey bees on zinnia. Sow zinnia seeds directly into the garden in late May and again in August for bloom until frost.

White:

Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri)

Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)

California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)

Early-blooming manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.). The cultivars ‘White Lanterns' and ‘Howard McMinn' are the two earliest bloomers at the Haven.

Gaura blooming in October at the Haven. Not commonly thought of as a bee plant, ours is well-used by honey bees.

Honey bee on white zinnia

Blue (shades of blue to purple):

Bush germander (Teucrium fruticans)

Rosemary ‘Mozart' (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Mozart'); this rosemary cultivar has outstanding deep purple flowers

Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha); give it space, as it can reach up to eight feed wide in bloom

Aster (New World species are now in the genus Symphyotrichum, while Old World species remain in the genus Aster). All of the Haven's asters are New World species.

Aster 'Bill's Big Blue' in bloom at the Haven. Give Bill lots of space! Look for honey bees and sweat bees on asters.

Female valley carpenter bee on the Haven's Mexican sage in November. She's the largest all-black bee in the garden; her iridescent wings are also a distinguishing feature.

Click here see a complete list of plants in the Honey Bee Haven.