Bees Please

awesome - thanks, HBNC - I'll google 'homemade native bee nest' and see what I can come up with.

honeybee, about 10 years ago i suddenly had lots of bumbles show up in my garden. i worked with them everyday with no problem. my husband went to change the propane tank on our mobile home one day and got stung 4 times. apparently they were nesting in the wall of the trailer and the vibration upset them. after that i had to change the tank and never got stung. the garden was only about 20 feet away. my great grandmother said that bumbles like to stay close to they're food source so watch early and late and maybe you can track down the nest.

flsusie - I've never been stung by a bumble bee, but have read that the sting is very painful. I've tried to hunt down bumble bee nests by watching where the bees come and go from, but have never succeeded. There is a large wooded area behind our property, so I suspect they nest back there. If our winter is very wet, we see very few bumble bees the following summer. Because they nest in the ground, I suspect that some times their home gets flooded.

Iv been stung by a Bumble bee,thier stings are much more painfull then regular bee stings.
BTW the bumble bee does not have a barbed stinger so can sting more then once.

I could be wrong but here in UK, you need a queen bee to get your bee's to stay in the HIVE, the Hive being the home where the bee's feed, work and care for all the baby bees the queen will produce, she needs nursery bee's and soldier bees to guard the hive and worker bee's to bring the pollen to the hive to feed all the other bee's and baby ones, well that is a simplistic way the hives work but you also have to be responsible when keeping bee's as the last thing you want or are allowed to do is cause your bee's to swarm, worry or upset the neighbors, or by fighting with other types of bee's insects or even pets, so there is more to bee keeping than just sending off for a few bee's to use as pollinators for your garden,
I would get a book, video or info pack re bee keeping before you decide IF you a) have the time and b) do you really want to introduce a hive that will end up with hundreds of bees in it on your garden. Yes there are dozens of different types of Bee's, they are solitary bees who bury into the ground and lay 1 egg then leave, there are honey bees, there are bumble bees just to name a few but you need to decide as not all those bees live in a hive where you keep them in the one area, most will just up and leave as there is no structure to their lives and don't live in groups. good luck. WeeNel.

Easybake -

Mabey thats why the bumble sting hurts more, the may get you more then once in the same spot

Interesting thought's, my personal experience is I've never been Stung by a Bumblebee. I play with them constantly in the Garden's, hold them on my Finger, Transfer them from the Hyssop to the Russian Sage, and was not even sure they had a Stinger, I Do miss the Honeybee's though.
I contacted President Obama about the Disappearence of the Honeybee's, and was infotmed by the White House that 12 Billion Dollars was allocated into the Private Investigation into the Disappearance of the Honeybee in New Jersey.

Stung by a bumblebee here. At least it was a large beelike creature. A few years ago one got tangled in my hair and without thinking, I reached up to comb it out with my fingers. It stung on the tip of the ring finger and was incredibly painful. My mind can still feel the pain. OTOH, I can walk among bees, yellowjackets, wasps, etc and have no problems.

We also have boring bees here. They bore into wooden structures. I suspect they are a pollinator but have never seen them pollinate anything but holes in wood.

Monsanto Round-up Ready Crops, killed the Honeybees...

MrPappyG -

anyone hear of demandprogress.org?

they usually get people to sign petitions for legislation relating to first amendment issues, but I've seen other petitions there as well. Perhaps if we as a community start getting the word out as a true grass roots, we can get some progress....

SFC -

Would you want your vegetables pollinated by robots? Check out the link:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57334719-76/bite-size-kilobots-robots-ready-to-swarm/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

at the bottom it reads that they could be used to pollinate....can you imagine that!?!?!?

SFC- didn't those University students learn anything from watching "The Matrix!"

If Kilobots are the bees, we're the batteries LOL

Honeybee, I e-mail the President regularly and am very active in signing petition's against GMO's and am very vocal here in my community. To date the President has allocated 12 billion dollars into private research into the disappearance of Honeybees. Some of you may want to check a site I visit regularly to get involved, right now California has a state referendum to label GMO's on this site as a petition that anyone can sign, the site is Organic Consumer's Organization.

MrPappyG - I thank you for your continued support to have GMO's so labeled.

Do you know if the bill passed? I think it was supposed to pass last October. Do you have any updates?

I am sooo Sorry, the name is the OCA, Organic Consumer's Association, from what I understand Honeybee, they are voting on it again. I am getting ready to Eat I promise I'll give you some updates tonight. Just got through making some Atlantic Cod Tempura with chipotle cream, and mac and cheese and it's calling my name, and a little ratatouille on the side....

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_24415.cfm
People internationally are growing in their attempt to stop the Production of GMO, from what I understand there are 17 European nation's currently involved in suing the company's responsible, like BASF, Monsanto, Bayer.
Honeybee, I wrote the President an e-mail about Honeybee's disappearing in my garden's even though I'm surrounded by farmland, what shocked me was he responded. I can send you a copy of the e-mail if you'd like, I have mixed emotion's about this Government that we live under, but I feel most of them are used car salesmen, and will tell you anything to take a dime from your pocket.
http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm
This is the California bill for labeling in of GMO...it would be the first in the Country since 1996...

I have a list of plants to make any location bee friendly (its long).

Mahonia
Crocus
Daffodil
Genista
Dicentra
Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
Gorse (Ulex)
Rosemary (Rosemarinus)
Flowering Currant (Ribes)
Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
Bluebell (Choose native varieties)
Cowslip (Choose native varieties)
Snakeshead (Fritillaria meleagris)
Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima, Lonicera purpusii)
Barberry (Berberis) (Lamium)
Bugle (Ajuga)
Ground Ivy
Snowdrops (Galanthes) – single flowered varieties
Winter Heathers (Erica carnea)
Forget-me-not (Myosotis)- pictured above
Foxglove (Digitalis)
Bistort
Crane’s-bill (Geranium)
Poppy (Papaver)
Chives
Bugle (Ajuga)
Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus acris)
Borage officinalis
Crocus
Comfrey (Malus)
Honey Suckle (Lonicera)
Passion Flower (Passiflora)
Muscari
Thyme
Sweetpea (Lathyrus)
Campanula
Lupin (Lupinus)
Rosa rugosa
Sea Holly (Eryngium)
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Penstemon
Salvia
Hebe
Allium
Golden Rod (Solidago)
Cornflower
Red Hot Poker (Knifophia)
Veronica
Salvia
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Salvia
Verbascum
Scabious
Sunflower
Lavender
Watermint
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)
Nepeta (Catmint)
Bugle (Ajuga)
Bergenia
Hellebores
Hollyhock
Bergamot
Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens)
Ivy
Mint (Mentha)
Oregano (Origanum)
Viburnum
Common Heather (Calluna vulgaris)

Ivy
Mint (Mentha)
Oregano (Origanum)
Viburnum
Common Heather (Calluna vulgaris)

Hope this helps when spring comes around!

I wanted to tell you , this year I went a little crazy about getting Pollinator's to my Garden, so I actually sat at a garden supply store with flower's abloom everywhere and watched which one's had Bee's, there were two, Hyssop, and Russian Sage, my garden's are full of them now...

Its just a joy to hear the gentle buzzing of bees and the color of flowering plants and trees.

Thank You Bloomfly, I have some of these in my garden already, but the Hyssop the French Marigold's, and the Russian Sage are really working well.

I only had a few Honeybees this year, better than last year though only one a baby it died on my finger weak and sick, but the Bumblebee's were everywhere.
It's true I got a little excited when I heard the Bees buzzing about, it transformed me to a youthful gaze planting garden's with my mother, I watched the bees going from Flower to Flower on the cucumber vines, and was peculiar at the onset of tiny bees transferring pollen, that I had never seen before, hopefully I will attract more Honeybees next year.

I've found my success in marigolds, rosemary, bipinnatus cosmos, sunflowers (found 5 bees on just 1 flower) and common perennial bulbs and corms like daffodils and crocuses. Your success must keep you going year after year.

One year I sowed crimson clover as a cover crop, and when it bloomed it was covered with honeybees. I hated having to turn it under. If you allow some of your vegetables/herbs to go to seed, you will see lots of bees, including honeybees, bumble bees and tiny native bees. Fireflies also hang out in vegetables that I allow to go to seed.

Bloomfly22 - thank you for being so "bee friendly."

Clovers are just wonderful for bees. I had white flowered clover mixed into my lawn, and when i was going to spray with herbicide, my lawn was buzzing with bees! I plan to incorporate some clover in with my moss verbena to make a butterfly and bee garden.

Here ya go, Honeybee....all the crimson clover you could ask for. And yes, I highly recommend it for bringing in all the beneficials, not just the bees.

Shoe

Hi, Shoe,

Crimson clover has such pretty flowers. Have you tried growing it in the shade? I have a bare, shady area that would look fantastic planted with crimson clover!

I bet it will. I just hope in CA the plants are hardy. (other species of clover)

I let my broccoli flower early this year and the bees went nuts :)

Broccoli flowers are certainly interesting. Here is a photo.

That pic made me laugh, Bloomfly thanks. It's beautiful but it's the last thing you want to see if you want to eat it...LOL

Local stores where I live seem ti think people will by these,( different variety, but still in bloom)

If you have the space I would recommend to you to start learning all you can about the Bee business. The bees are facinating to watch and they work so hard for you so you can have a great supply of food. I think the Honey alone would benifit anyone, its so healthy for you. Check out the You Tube videos on Bee Keeping. If I had the space I would do it myself.

jwgold - the first thing to consider before adding a bee hive to ones garden is: "Where will the bees find food?" A few vegetables and flowers in ones garden is not enough to support even a single hive of bees.

If there are orchards within two miles or so, then honeybees can make a living while the trees are in bloom. After that, they must either sustain themselves on the honey already collected, or move away. This is why professional bee keepers move their bees from crop to crop.

When I lived in South Florida, I was fortunate to be in an area that had many plants or trees in bloom year round. I cannot say the same for this area, and would not consider this a good location for a beehive.

As mentioned in one of my posts above, I recommend having native bee nests.

I have always wanted to keep honeybees, but i am afraid of the sting, and as HBNC stated, there are not enough food sources in my area for them to really thrive.
I get out in my little back yard garden pretty early each morning, and i must say that watching the bees at work is mesmerizing. Now that the squashes and pumpkins are flowering, I see several types of bees at them. It is funny to see them circle the huge flower, land and work the stamen/pistil(?). Many of them take a short break,just sitting still inside the bloom for several moments...then emerge all dusted in gold. It never fails to make me laugh as the bee flies off all lazy and pollen-drunk to the next job on her route.
Talk about dedication, I read that a bee will wear out her wings before her life expectancy is reached. Sadly There is no bee retirement plan..the same source also says that when she can no longer do her job, the worker bee is denied entrance to the hive, and she just dies. Aahh well, that's nature.

scarletbean - it's always good to find another honeybee admirer ^_^

In the garden this morning there were large and small bumble bees, two strains of honeybees, several native bees, a wasp, and two tiny butterflies. All were enjoying the pollen/nectar of the various herbs currently in bloom, especially the Greek oregano.

I like your photo. I know how hard it is to capture a honeybee in action!

Speaking of bees' anyone know what type these are?

I read some articles blaming a combination of Varroa mites AND insect viruses for Colony Collapse Disorder.

Looking around a little more, I see articles blaming almost anything you can think of. I'm guessing that the jujry is still out.

Speaking of Brassicas like broccoli going to seed, here are some heirloom Italian "leaf broccoli" in bloom after overwintering. Our few bees did like it in early spring when not much erlse was in bloom!


Spigariello Liscia
Brassica oleracea var. 'Spigariello'