- Author: Christine Casey
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.
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.
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.
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.
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- Author: Christine Casey
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.
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.
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.
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- Author: Christine Casey
Our mild California weather gives us the luxury of year-round gardening in most areas of the state. And warm enough for plants means warm enough for bees, whether it's honey bees from a local hive or native bees with queens that fly early, such as the black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus.
A great way to provide resources for bees in the winter is with winter-blooming annuals. Take a trip to most garden centers this time of year and you'll typically find calendula, Iceland poppy, pansy, primrose, and snapdragons, along with flowering vegetables like fava beans.
Poppies are great bee plants, and Iceland poppy is a winter bee favorite in the Haven. Plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, are also generally great for bees, and pot marigold (calendula) lives up to these expectations.
Surprisingly our English daisy, also in the sunflower family, fails to host many bees. Other common winter annuals that are not much used by bees are primrose and pansy.
Another great choice for winter bee forage is fava bean. Not only do the bees use it, their pollination will provide you with a nice crop of beans.
- Author: Christine Casey
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.
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'.
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.
- Author: Christine Casey
Winter is when gardeners plan next year's plantings and other changes to our gardens. One consideration in planning a bee garden is creating bee observation spots, along with acquiring tools for bee observation. For many folks this includes photographing bees. Bee photography is challenging and rewarding; here are some tips:
1. Elaborate, expensive equipment is not necessary. I take many of the photos at the Haven with Ricoh CX5 point-and-shoot camera. It has very good macro capabilities for a point-and-shoot that allows me to get nice close bee shots.
2. For action shots, my camera is a Canon Rebel T3i with a 55mm to 250mm telephoto lens. I use the "sport" setting that shoots multiple frames per second, which allows me to shoot bees "in action" as they come and go from flowers.
3. Light. Bees will move if a shadow is cast over them. Position yourself so the sun is in front to avoid making shadows. Photography in full sun at mid-day creates harsh shadows and is difficult. Shade umbrellas help, or try to find a spot in light shade. Although there may be less bee activity, late afternoon is a great time to take bee photos.
4. Time of day. In general bees are most active mid-day, although there are exceptions. Carpenter bees are active until dusk; the charismatic yellow male Valley carpenter bee pictured above becomes active around 3pm. Male longhorned bees form each day's sleeping aggregation at dusk and leave at sunrise the next morning; these are an excellent photography subject. The photos of longhorned bees shown here are from my own garden because of their dawn and dusk schedule.
5. Patience, patience, patience! Plant your bee garden in an area where you can sit comfortably and set up a camera. Target highly attractive plants that bring in a variety of bee species such as salvia and sunflowers.
To view a selection of bee photos from the Haven, visit our Flickr page. Camera and exposure information is included with each photo.
Update February 2016: this blog post from the Xerces Society has more great insect photography tips.
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