- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has scheduled a fall open house, the last of the season, at its Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Friday, Oct. 2 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The half-acre bee friendly garden is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
The theme is "IPM in the Bee Garden." Participating will be representatives of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM). Karey Windbiel-Rojas, associate director for Urban and Community IPM/Area IPM Advisor, and Anne Schellman, urban IPM educator, will provide information on pest solutions that are bee friendly, such as non-chemical methods and less toxic methods.
They will staff a table and answer pest questions and also have a IPM Prize Wheel that kids and adults can spin. The questions will feature several topics such as pollinators, beneficial insects and IPM practices. They will have resource information for home gardeners, as well as stickers and hand stamps for kids.
The bee garden was planted in the fall of 2009 under the direction of then interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology. A six-foot-long worker bee sculpture, the work of Donna Billick, anchors the garden. Entomologist Diane Ullman, professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Billick co-founded and co-directed the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
The garden features mosaic ceramic art by students and area residents, all under the direction of Ullman and Billick. The garden also includes bee condos, or housing for leafcutter bees and blue orchard bees. A new addition is a viable honey bee hive.
For details on the open house, access the website or contact the bee garden's staff director Christine Casey at cacasey@ucdavis.edu or faculty staff director Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist, at elnino@ucdavis.edu.
