- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No, wait. Catch...examine...and then release.
That's what attendees will do at the UC Davis Bee Haven's 15th anniversary celebration, set from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 6 on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
They'll be using a bee vacuum device to scoop up a honey bee, carpenter bee, bumble bee or other pollinator for close observation.
The half-acre garden is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Research Facility. Both are part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The open house, free and family friendly, will include a tour of the garden at 11 a.m.; catch-and-release bee activity to observe bees up close; information about low-water plants; and presentations on University of California pollinator research.
The haven is open daily from dawn to dusk (no admission). It is described as "a unique outdoor museum that provides resources for local bee pollinators, inspires and educates visitors to create pollinator habitat gardens, and provides a site for the observation and study of bees and the plants that support them."
Director of the garden is Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension - Apiculture, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Christine Casey is the manager, the academic program management officer.
Workers installed the garden in the fall of 2009, under the tenure of interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, now UC Davis distinguished professor emerita, and with primary funds from the Häagen-Dazs ice cream brand. Featuring a series of interconnected gardens with names like “Honeycomb Hideout,” “Nectar Nook” and “Pollinator Patch,” it was designed to provide the Laidlaw honey bees with a year-around food source, raise public awareness about the plight of honey bees, encourage visitors to plant bee-friendly gardens of their own, and serve as a research site.
A six-foot worker bee sculpture of ceramic and mosaic anchors the garden. It's the work of self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick of Davis. UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman and Billick co-founded and directed the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion Program, and their art and that of Ullman's entomology students, as well as members of the community and other volunteers, are showcased throughout the garden.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's when the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its bee garden with an open house from 10 a.m. to noon. It's free and family friendly.
The half-acre garden is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
The open house will include a tour of the garden at 11 a.m.; catch-and-release bee activity to observe bees up close; information about low-water plants; and presentations on University of California pollinator research.
Open from dawn to dusk (free admission), the Bee Haven is described as "a unique outdoor museum that provides resources for local bee pollinators, inspires and educates visitors to create pollinator habitat gardens, and provides a site for the observation and study of bees and the plants that support them."
Director of the garden is Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension - Apiculture, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Christine Casey is the manager, the academic program management officer.
The garden was installed in the fall of 2009, under the tenure of interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, now UC Davis distinguished professor emerita, and with primary funds from the Häagen-Dazs ice cream brand. Featuring a series of interconnected gardens with names like “Honeycomb Hideout,” “Nectar Nook” and “Pollinator Patch,” it was designed to provide the Laidlaw honey bees with a year-around food source, raise public awareness about the plight of honey bees, encourage visitors to plant bee-friendly gardens of their own, and serve as a research site.
“This garden is a living laboratory to educate, inspire and engage people of all ages in the serious work of helping to save honey bees,” said Dori Bailey, then director of Haagen-Dazs Consumer Communications.
Art graces the garden, thanks to the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded and directed by entomologist-artist Diane Ullman, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology; and Davis-based artist Donna Billick. Billick, a self-described "rock artist," sculpted the six-foot-long worker bee that anchors the haven. Students and area residents crafted the bee-motif ceramic tiles that line a bench, which also includes the names of major donors.
A mural featuring native bees graces the shed in the garden. It was a project of the Entomology 1 class, "Art, Science and the World of Insects," taught by Ullman and Billick. Then doctoral student Sarah Dalrymple of the Rick Karban lab, served as the graphics project coordinator and teaching assistant, guiding the students on design, creation and installation of the panels. She went on to be named the 2011 recipient of the UC Davis Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award and praised for fusing the boundaries of biology, art and culture.
The Bee Haven came to "bee" after officials at the Haagen-Dazs read a research news story on honey bees, written by communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey and telephoned her. The article, on "building a better bee," chronicled the plight of honey bees and the work of bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, then manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility and now with Washington State University. Haagen-Dazs served as the primary donor of the garden and also funded the Häagen-Dazs Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis. It went to Michelle Flenniken, an insect virus researcher based at UC San Francisco. She is now a professor at Montana State University.
Links:
Sausalito Team Wins Design Competition
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15240
Grand Opening Celebration of Honey Bee Garden
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15249
Eagle Scout Project: Fence Around the Bee Garden
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10166
Campus Buzzway: Wildflowers
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15242
Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven: Sacramento Bee Award
(With photo of founding volunteers)
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10205
Shedding Light on Native Bees
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27570
For more information on the UC Davis Bee Haven, access the website at https://beegarden.ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven (named for its major donor), js celebrating its 10 anniversary, while the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is sponsoring its first fall plant sale of the season at its teaching nursery.
The two sites are a short distance from one another: the bee garden is on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus, while the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery is on Garrod Drive, near the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
The open house, set from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include sales of plants and native bee condos, honey tasting (honey from Sola Bee Honey, Woodland), catch-and-release bee observation and identification, and beekeeping and research displays. Several mini lectures are planned.
Visitors will see an analemmatic sundial--the only one of its kind in the Sacramento area--and they can discuss the sundial with dial master and beekeeper Rick Williams, M.D. to learn how the dial was created and the links between human and bee perception of the sun, according to manager Chris Casey. Visitors also will learn about "our research on bee use of ornamental landscape plants," she said. In addition, visitors can "donate a book on insects, gardening, or nature for our Little Free Library," she announced.
The schedule:
- 10:30 a.m.: Donor and volunteer recognition
- 11 a.m.: Hive opening by beekeeper from the California Master Beekeepers' Association
- 11:30: Mini lecture, "Getting Started with Beekeeping"
- 12: Mini lecture, "Plants for Bees"
- 12:30: Mini lecture, "Using Solitary Bee Houses"
- 1 p.m.: Hive opening by beekeeper from the California Master Beekeepers' Association
UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale
The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden plant sale is open to members only (but you can join at the gate) from 9 to 11 a.m., and to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The organizers promise that the one-acre nursery will offer "an incredible selection of Arboretum All-Stars, California natives, and thousands of other attractive, low-water plants perfect for making your landscape come alive with environmentally important pollinators."
What plants are available for purchase? You can download the inventory here. Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted. In addition to plants, you can buy native wildflower seeds. They will include small flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii); Elegant clarkia (Clarkia unguiculate); Fort Miller clarkia (Clarkia williamsonii); Yellow ray goldfields (Lasthenia glabrata); Golden lupine (Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorus); Sky lupine (Lupinus nanus); Lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia); Vinegarweed (Trichostema lanceolatum); and Tomcat clover (Trifolium willdenovii). The packets are $3 (cash only).
The packets contain native wildflower seeds recommended by pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and his lab. Their published research indicates that these are among the best annual and perennial plants for supporting pollinators--without enhancing potential pests.
More UC Davis Arboretum plant sales are scheduled Oct. 12 and Nov. 2.