Mother Nature is wearing Silver Pearls

I'll second Pixy. Do not attempt to move.
I had a similar situation a couple years back. I marked the area with circle of wire fencing and worked around them. They would frequently exit the nest like liquid smoke, and investigate any perceived disturbance. I learned to work near, and keep a low profile. It was irritating to put off completing the work, but when I weighed that against the necessity of having a healthy population of pollinators, the Bees won.
That Fall, I was able to finish. I don't know anything about moving the Queen, because they had moved on to another area. I never did any further research on ground-nesting bees, so I have nothing to offer in that regard. Perhaps someone else can provide some meaningful information.

I had a ground hive of red butts earlier this year under the goat compost. By the time I realized they were there, I had destroyed their nest and drowned them out. However, I have several hives of yellow butts in some of the birdhouses that DH built, so they are very happy. I have even allowed the European paper wasps to build this year, as they are not aggressive and eat caterpillars. There is one mason bee tube by the front door, so I need to make some of those nesting boxes for them. My honey bees died over the winter, but the yard is alive with bees, and I never get stung, but it scares visitors, and their first comments are to tell me that I need to kill them out. So sad that folks are so far removed from nature that they feel that they need to kill everything. That is why I love this forum, I have found the bee lovers!

Here is shot of the birdhouse. Then I thumped it and tried to get a shot of the activity. One of them became aggressive and I was laughing to myself about not having ever been stung.

strange birds. . .

Neo - I am a Beeliever, too!
They really like my birdhouses, too. I'm glad they've found them safe & cozy.

Good to hear I am not the only one who encourages the bees to nest in the birdhouses! Considering that my DH built that one as his signature line, and is the one he chose for his logo, it means a lot to me. Last year there were chestnut backed chickadees in it, but I pulled it up to reseal all the joints, but the bees got in there before I had time. I started to shake them out, but decided that I liked them as much as the birdies!

holly - I found a bees nest in the ground about 10 years ago and ended up calling Knox Cellars after finding them online. They said that nobody will come and get bumblebees (which they were) because they don't typically produce a lot of honey. I talked to a gal for quite awhile about moving them.

You basically get a cooler with ice and a jar with a hole in the lid and a net and catch each sentry as he's coming back to the nest. Put them in the jar and in the cooler (not right on the ice). They cool of and get sluggish. Do this until there isn't any traffic and then carefully look at the nest. After about 45 minutes I covered myself up (scraed the sh__ out of the cat) and taped my sleeves etc. and then went in because I was too impatient and it was hot. It was a relatively new nest and was very small. I should look to see if I can't find the pictures. Anyway, I put them in a bee box (I guess I must have purchased one after talking to Knox) and they lived there all summer. I have bumble bee boxes out, but don't know if anybody uses them.

http://www.knoxcellars.com/

This message was edited Jun 23, 2008 9:49 AM

Knoxcellars publishes a book by a local author called Humblebee Bumblebee, by Brian l. Griffin. It goes into detail on the procedure Kathy described above. I think that Mr. Griffin invented this procedure. It also tells you how to make your own bumblebee box. It's written very simply, in a 'folksy' style that is easy to understand and would make a good addition to your educational supplies. There is a fieldguide to bumblebee in the back, although the author does make reference to how difficult field identification can be, considering the subspecies that exist, and also the different colorations of workers, queens, etc. If you really don't want to leave the bees this season, I recommend buying the book.

For melissa, lady of the bees. . .

http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/06.18.08/bio-melissa-0825.html

http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/06.18.08/bio-hive-0825.html

http://www.themelissagarden.com/plants.html







This message was edited Jun 23, 2008 9:47 AM

Can we grow these here, and does anyone know where I can buy some?

echium. . .

http://www.themelissagarden.com/albums/beefavorites/pages/P4250028.htm

BTW, there were food vendors and one woman selling sedums at the civil war thing. Of course I spied her first thing, but waited until I was ready to leave before buying all I could with the 19 dollars cash I had in my wallet. They are sweeties. She is at the Port Gamble market on Sundays, and the Port Townsend one on Saturdays.

I use the lower growing ones to retain the soil along the top edge of my rock walls.

I'll have to look for a copy of the humble bumble book, sounds good. The bees can probably stay where they are this summer, as I certainly have plenty of other garden beds to dig up, but I may want to try moving them in the fall. Thanks for the specialized bee moving method Kathy. I will need it when the time comes.

Neo, I'm going to have seeds of a different Echium (pininana) when the seeds on my plant dry. I've never collected them before (or grown the plant before this year), so I don't know exactly when they will be ready, but there are a lot of them. They look funny, kind of small and spiky

Holly -

The nest may move on its own as the queen will leave and look for a new place. Bumblebees are pretty gentle. Holly - I would love to see your Echium in its prime. Such a striking looking plant.

Kathryn -

I have friends who grow the Echium (they reseed all over) in Ballard and I think Pixy grows them, too.

Oh yes, pixy does grow them! I have three kinds that should bloom this year, so I'll collect seeds. Mine are also different from Holly's, so altogether we represent 4 kinds. My oldest Echium wildpretti is about 8 feet tall now and the stalk is enormous! It's starting to put out side shoots so hope springs eternal! It lived under a plastic tent all winter to protect it from the wet weather. It has been babied beyond the pale!
I have what I think is Echium vulgare (just can't remember at the moment) that is beginning to put out little blue flowers. Very nice. Trying to remember the third kind but no banana. Just now it's a large round mound of spiky silver foliage. I think it's E. fastuosum.

Kathryn, I probably have some seed in the greenhouse, at least for E. wildpretti. I will check for you.

Wonderful links! I love the 'melissa garden', and also the guerrilla bee keeper! What a great list of plants that honey bees love. I'm going to study the list and make sure I have many of them. I have honeybees already, but I want to encourage them. I guess unless a person is allergic to bee stings, I'm having trouble understanding why people would be against bees. Do they lack understanding of the role that bees play? Or are they just of the 'kill first ask questions later' persuasion? I am not a fan of these people.

My Echium put up 2 flower stalks, and after a few months both have started to lean over, one much more than the other. They have been putting on a flower show for quite a while. I don't know how long it keeps on blooming, and then does the whole thing die back? It has attracted lots of attentions from passers-by.

Those are so cool! I would definitely love seeds from them if you get any. Yes, some Echiums are monocarpic I believe, so the plant dies after blooming. But they generally produce babies from see, although it will take two years to see a bloom. Others are perennial or biennial. I'm not sure which you have. Is that Echium fastuosum? If so, it's perennial I think. That looks like a Dr. Seuss plant so it's perfect for outside a classroom window.

Pixydish:

I love the role that bee's play in the cycle, but sad to say I'm VERY allergic to them. I carry my epi pen when I'm outside as one never knows. Why just the other morning heading out to work, a bee ran right into me. Scared me to death at first but then when I realized it didn't sting me, then off I went, didn't see where the bee went...

I especially like to watch them go from one flower to another. So if they will stay on the flower buds and not on me, then life is great!

Janet

Janet, Those epi pens are serious business. I was trained in how to use one when I had a child in my class who was allergic to peanuts. Luckily, I did not ever have to use it. I can certainly understand your apprehension about bees if they get too close. I've only ever been stung by a wasp, with no allergy that affects the airway to contend with, just a swelled up arm. Glad to hear you carry the epi pen with you.

Pixy, that is an Echium pininana that I have. I was told it is biennial, but I don't know if that means it will die after flowering this or that it flowers every two years and will come back after I cut down the finished flower stalk. Lots of people have been reminded of Dr. Seuss illustrations. It is a pretty wild plant, especially the part that reaches horizontally behind the bed toward the classroom door. You can get right up close and personal with the top of the flowers there. the kids love taking magnifyers out there to check out the flowers and the bees going in and out.

Janet, that is terrifying - glad you carry your pen with you!!! I have a mild allergy to bee stings, but nothing life threatening.

Bee allergies are nothing to take lightly! That's really too bad. I can't imagine being allergic to them, although I know many people are. Seems like I'm allergic to just about everything else.

Holly, biennial plants bloom in their second year and then they go the way of all flesh. Hope for seedlings!

Murmur: If you have had a reaction then be very careful as each time you are stung it gets worse. The first time I was stung was when I was 18 and my throat closed so fast I held a spoon down my throat to breath while my mom rushed me to the hospital and I was in for a while on a vent (having asthma doesn't make it any easier either...) then the next time even with a pen I was on a vent for sometime. The doctors said with each sting it becomes more life threatening. Funny thing is when I was a kid I got stung all the time and nothing serious. Funny how our bodies change. When we moved to Ohio I had to start back on allergy shots and the doctor wanted to find out if I was still allergic to bees and it freaked me out cause all I could think is you are going to inject some in me then I'm gonna be in the hospital, but thank goodness all they do is take some blood and run it and sure enough it game back that I was most certainly still allergic to them. The others are a problem. I can't even eat honey as it starts a breathing problem. So no more bare feet in the grass for me, nore can I go in creeks barefooted either.

I've used my epi pen twice for other allergic reactions and the mark it leaves on your leg isn't pretty. ouch..!

So that is biennials mean, well I'll be making sure not to get too attached to any of those beauties....
thanks for the insight on them.

Janet

Janet, how frustrating for you, to be a gardener and to have to worry about such a potential threat pretty much all the time. I sympathize.

Have you ever talked to the doctors about homeopathy - using microscopic amounts of the thing you're allergic to to get your body used to it? Or maybe your allergy is so severe they wouldn't even mess with it. I don't know.

From what I've heard, the echiums seed pretty well, so if you have they going, you would have bloomers every year. The challenge is to overwinter them if you have any frost.

I collected about a dozen Echium seeds today, as they were looking brown. They were a little hard to detach, so I decided to wait a bit and see if they get easier to pull off when they dry down some more. My plant made it through the winter with only a little mulch . It drooped with each freeze, but bounced right back. It is planted by a large south facing concrete wall, so it gets some residual heat for part of the night.

Meadow, so do I, have to bee very careful, but if you don't mess with them, they are Okay

tillysrat:

You can bee in the wrong spot at the wrong time and get stung, like the other day I'm walking out the door and a bee uses me as a direction changer for its path... after I realized I hadn't been stung, then on I went to work... but let me tell you those first few seconds, everything runs through your mind... When I got stung the first time all I was doing was walking on the driveway in flip flops and the bee went inbetween my big toe and second toe and I stepped down on it.... OUCH! before I could get into the front door (which was far) my second toe was so swelled and the swelling was starting in the rest of my foot, then the next thing was my breathing, very hard to get any air in as everything is swelling shut.

So even doing the best to not bother them, although I don't know why someone would want to do that anyway.... doesn't mean you won't get stung by accident.

I lived dangerously today as I was walking barefoot in the back yard while my grandson was in the new little swimming pool we picked up for him. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to be barefoot. Now the only reason I even thought about giving this a try was I just moved the day before and there was no clover in the yard at ALL. But believe me it won't happen again as that was just a little too dangerous a living for me. But it sure was a joy.

Janet

Sooo sorry, I did not mean it that way, accidents happened.
but to make yourself a target is a different story. To wear shoes not suited for the yard is one, bees hover on the ground on the nice little weeds they love so much. I got one up my pant leg once, never see anyone strip so fast. LOL thank god I have no neighbours. I only ware Tenn's or boots in the yard, I live in the woods have to have good protection.
They hover around me all the time, have never been stung. and not only the bees also have mud wasps, and hornets. and they are not nice.