Archive for the ‘Bumblebees’ Category

Bulbs for the Bees

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Natural Beekeeping, Tower of Jewels, tagged Allium, bee-loving flowers, beekeeping, bees on Oregon Coast, Gardening, grape hyacinth, honey bees, natural beekeeping, Siberian Squill, Snowdrops, Tower of Jewels, Wild pollinators on November 19, 2013| 10 Comments »

Some of the bulbs being planted for the bees. I was able to purchase these locally from my favorite nursery, 101 Plants and Gifts.

It’s possible that everyone already knows certain bulbs provide an early nectar source for bees. I might be new to the game because, well, I’ve never really been overly appreciative of growing flowers. “They take up space and use precious water.” Being on a shallow well makes you a water miser. But these grow during the rainy season. Some can even be planted in the front lawn, not taking up space or using extra water as in the Siberian Squill. Being a beekeeper has changed my attitude towards flowers. Now my motto is, ” You can never have too many (bee-loving) flowers.”

Since I recently broke up a new patch of ground for the Towers of Jewel ‘trees’, I have some extra space I can dedicate to bulbs. Che Guebuddha, a blogger from Sweden, mentioned even more bulbs like the white Snow Drops and the yellow Eranthis. A quick call to find out I can’t get them locally, but I CAN get them from John Scheepers on the east coast. I order another 150 more. Looks like I’ll have to break more ground. As an after thought I wonder if I have to worry about poisons on the bulbs. Alicia at the customer service desk of John Scheepers, Inc. assures me “there are no sprays, poisons, or toxins associated with these bulbs.” Good! They are going in next weekend.

With the addition of bulbs, we'll provide early nectar as well as summer food.

Newly planted “Tower of Jewel ‘trees. I’m counting on these plants to grow about 10 feet (3 meters) this spring. With the addition of bulbs, we’ll be able to provide an early nectar source as well as mid summer nourishment for the honeybees and bumblebees.

12-26-13...Persian Blue Alliums are up already. I don't know if that's a good thing or not! I'm protecting this patch because the sub freezing temps are bad for the echium...something I didn't think about when I planted the bulbs. :-(

12-26-13…Drumstick Alliums are up already. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not! I’m protecting this patch because the sub freezing temps are bad for the echium (Tower of Jewels)…something I didn’t think about when I planted the bulbs. 😦

February 5, 2014…Grape Hyacinth and 15 Drumstick Allium are up. Giant Snowdrops just breaking.

February 5, 2-14...close up of Grape Hyacinth. My wife says I planted them too close together. She might be right.

February 5, 2014…close up of Grape Hyacinth. My wife says I planted them too close together. She might be right.

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No, These are NOT Giant Marijuana Plants

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Natural Beekeeping, Tower of Jewels, tagged bee-loving flowers, echium, Gardening, natural beekeeping, organic gardening, Tower of Jewels, Transplanting Tower of Jewels on November 13, 2013| 5 Comments »

But they ARE echium ‘trees’; more specifically, Towers of Jewels.

I spaded the this patch of turf, then kept finding more and more transplants to put in.

Last year the only one I had grew 10 feet (3 meters) in a single year. The bumblebees loved it. They worked it mid May til mid September. I kept thinking about collecting seeds, then forgot. Not to worry, I’ve got plenty of ‘upstarts’ now.

If I ever had any doubts that the Tower of Jewels would throw seeds, those doubts have vanished. Self-seeded echium in garlic bed.

If I ever had any doubts that the Tower of Jewels would throw seeds, those doubts have vanished. I’ve got to get these out of here to plant garlic. If I don’t transplant them, my wife has threatened to ‘toss’ them. Why? We have so many.

The plants don’t have big root balls. Hope they take.

October 20, hummm, they look a little wilty. I better water them.

November 9, 2013...They are starting to look better after I trimmed the lower leaves. What are the tires for? They are to hold up the tarp to protect them from freezing. Not too hard to cover them when they are this short.

November 9, 2013…They are starting to look better after I trimmed the lower leaves.
What are the tires for? They are to hold up a tarp to protect them from freezing.

November 13…Echium in the sun, looks good. This will be the area I’ll plant some of my “Bulbs for the Bees,” Snowdrops, Winter Aconite, and Siberian Scilla.

According to Palmbob, at Dave’s garden, trying to transplant it, ends up killing it, but these are still growing almost a month after transplanting. The Tower of Jewels is a member of the Boraginaceae family which includes borage (grows all year here) and comfrey which I planted 40 years ago and is still coming back. I’m hoping these will grow to be tall nectar sources for bees and butterflies.

11-24-13…I’ve had to take drastic action for the cold weather. Bags of leaves hold up the tarp, tires hold it down.

12-26-13…These echium have definitely taken a hit from the sub freezing temps we’ve been experiencing for a couple of weeks. I hope they make it.

February 5, 2014…Five out of six have survived so far. These sub freezing nights are NOT helping. I cover them with blankets and a plastic tarp every night.

February 5, 2014…new growth means it’s still alive! More cold nights forecast so I’ve got to keep them protected.

Feb. 5, 2014...These four echium are more slightly more protected. They were put here as a back up (Plan Bee)

Feb. 5, 2014…These four echium in the backyard are slightly more protected. They were put here as a back up (Plan Bee). I didn’t think it was a very good spot because of the shade, but they are doing the best of the bunch.

12-29-14…I shot these backyard echium to show the progress they have made. No blossoms in 2014 means they will blossom in 2015 (if they make it through the winter without frost damage.)

March 9, 2015…Is this the year the echium will bloom? I sure hope so. It’s putting on a spurt of growth.

February 23, 2014…five echium still hanging on, barely.

February 23, 2014…This poor echium plant suffered in the cold temps, but it’s still showing signs of life. Footnote…it didn’t make it.

June 16, 2014…Three echiums made it through the winter, but it looks like they are not going to bloom this year. Sometimes it’s the second year and sometimes it’s the third year. I guess I’m going to have to wait a year. 😦

12-29-14…There are still 3 echium plants going into winter, although one looks a little sick. I wanted to shoot a photo before I covered them up with tarps prior to the big freeze this week.

March 9...This echium also has been adding height. I notice it most when I try to pull the tarp over the top to protect it from frost.

March 9…This echium has also been adding height. I started noticing it when I tried to pull the tarp over the top to protect it from frost. We haven’t seen any bud starts yet.

March 19...I just noticed the tallest echium (in the picture above) is starting to send out blossoms. Hooray!

March 19…I just noticed the tallest echium (in the picture above) is starting to send out bud starts. Hooray!

July 14, 2015...In the spring, we enlarged this bed and planted some bee-loving plants along with the echium.

July 14, 2015…In the spring, we enlarged this bed and planted some bee-loving plants along with the Towers of Jewels echium plants shown in the background.

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Grooming, on a Summer Afternoon

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, Bees grooming, bees on Oregon Coast, bumblebees, honey bees, macro nature video, natural beekeeping, nature photography, pollinators, Wild pollinators on October 30, 2013| 3 Comments »

I asked Kiera O’hara, the composer and pianist of the background music, “Song for Earth Day.”
“I’ve got the melody replaying itself over and over again in my head. Since you wrote it can you describe the background of it? I’m always curious how a person comes up with music, probably because I’m so NOT musical.
There’s that little voice towards the end (at 3:10) that says to me, “But why can’t I?” or “but what about this?” It’s definitely a question. That’s how it sounds to me. :-)”

Her reply…

You’ve got it, exactly! That ending was meant to sound tentative–the vulnerability of the earth asking for help, and the question lingering for us humans, will we help?

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Poor Man’s Orchid Pollinators

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Music video, Videos, Wasps, tagged Bombus vosnesenskii, Pollen covered wasp, Poor Man's Orchid, Schizanthus, Wasp pollinator, Yellow-faced Bumble Bee on July 31, 2013| 2 Comments »

July 30, 2013...A pollen covered wasp takes off from the Poor Man's Orchid

July 30, 2013…A pollen covered wasp takes off from Barbara’s Poor Man’s Orchid

On our morning walk we pass Barbara’s well-maintained flower garden. Today, Barbara called out, “Pat, did you see those white bees?” I had never heard of white bees so we looked carefully. They were certainly white, but I couldn’t get a good fix on them as they were darting in and out of the flowers so fast. After I replayed the videos I could see what they were…wasps and bumblebees covered with white pollen.

This could be a Yellow-faced Bumble Bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, or possibly a Bombus Californicus…I can’t tell the difference. The video shows this bee backing out of the flower and getting a trail of pollen up her back.

Lots of nice bee flowers here…in the foreground are the Poor Man’s Orchids.

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Bee Flowers in May

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, beekeeping, Bees on echium, bees on kale, bees on Oregon Coast, bees on Salvia, bumblebees, fly pollination, honey bees, macro photography, natural beekeeping, nature photography, pollinators, Wild pollinators on June 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

This is actually a fly...I didn't know that while I was filming it, but I kept it in the movie so you could see the tongue. I'm wondering if this inspired 'Alien.'

This is actually a fly…I didn’t know that while I was filming it, but I kept it in the movie so you could see the tongue. I’m wondering if it inspired ‘Alien.’

This is the tail end of the kale flowers. In April, the bees were so busy on the kale you could hear the happy humming. In June when I’m finally posting this, the kale has been pulled and hung so the seed pods can dry out.

We've worked up a flower garden near the bee hives. This is an Echium which was given to us by Shigeo who was very helpful with his "Big Dog" chainsaw carving out my Bee-atrice log hive.

We’ve worked up a flower garden near the bee hives. This honeybee is working an Echium which was given to us by Shigeo who was very helpful with his “Big Dog” chainsaw carving out my Bee-atrice log hive.

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Comfrey Camo

Posted in Bumblebees, Gardening, tagged blueberry protection from birds, Gardening, Gardening tips, organic gardening, pollinators, Wild pollinators on July 29, 2012| 4 Comments »

Two years ago we wanted to quit having to mow between our blueberry bushes. We laid down landscape cloth, covered it with sawdust, and our mowing days were behind us. That year we watched the bees pollinate the blossoms and the berries grew like never before. We had a huge berry crop but couldn’t eat a single berry because as they ripened, a family of robins spotted them first…each bush was clearly visible from a bird’s eye view and as the berries ripened, the birds easily picked them off before we could. We laid fake snakes on the ground. We hung shiny wind socks to distract them. We thought about netting them, but it would have been difficult to pick them. So we let the birds have them.

Last year we tried a different strategy. We let the comfrey that we had been treating as weeds, grow up next to the bushes. We didn’t have any bird problems. So this year we’re doing the same thing. The comfrey provides blossoms to attract the bees which pollinate both the blueberries and the comfrey and we are assured of having berries without birds.

Bumblebee pollinating Comfrey blossoms. The bees work both the comfrey and the blueberry bushes that the comfrey hides from the birds.

Bumblebee on Blueberry blossom

The comfrey is still blooming!! It’s been over two months since the first picture was taken. The blueberries are now ripe and ready to pick. Thanks to the comfrey for hiding the blueberries from the birds, we can now pick them.

The bumblebees are still pollinating the comfrey even though it’s been over two months.

These blueberries were picked today. This is probably our best harvest yet. We’ve been getting this much every couple of days.

It’s been a successful experiment. The comfrey might compete somewhat with the blueberries for water and space…but what matters most is the successful harvest before the birds get them.

As a win-win, comfrey is known for it’s healing qualities also. For growing and using comfrey see this article by The Mother Earth News. And here’s a another person’s story of how to make a poultice and apply it. I just came across yet another site about the great qualities of comfrey.

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Bumble Bee Heaven

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Gardening, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, beekeeping, bumblebees, echium, Feral bees, honey bees, Log hive wood carving, natural beekeeping, Tower of Jewels, Verticle log hive, Wild pollinators, wood carving on June 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Echium tree demands attention…and gets it almost exclusively from the bumblebees.

We believe this is an Echium Pininana or Simplex. We bought it last year for the bees. It was supposed to have blue flowers. This one is more white tinted with a bit of red and is called the “Tower of Jewels.” The bumble bees flock to it. We get all kinds…Bombus Melanopygus, Bombus Californicus, and others.

A lucky shot…press the button on a digital camera, wait an instant before it takes the shot. This one worked out well.

A Bombus Californicus works the Comfrey blossom

I was hoping the echium would throw some volunteers. I didn't see them at first, but here they are, in my tomato bed.

September 30, 2013 I was hoping the echium tree “Tower of Jewels” would throw some volunteers. I wasn’t disappointed. These will be “Towers” for 2014.

Following up on the transplants.

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Plant Flowers for the Bees

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Butterflies, Crab spider, Gardening, Natural Beekeeping, tagged bee-loving flowers, bumblebees, crab spider, Gardening, honey bees, natural beekeeping, organic gardening, Wild pollinators on June 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

What flowers to plant/buy for our area of Zone 5? These flowers have done well for us…

Bees love California Lilac which provides early nourishment for the bees

Bumble bee on the Comfrey, which can be considered invasive, but provides food for the bees.

Echium plant grew from 2 ft (.6 m) high last year to about 10 ft (3m) high this year

Bumble bees go for the Echium in a big way

SIX BEES ON A SINGLE BLOSSOM

Bees go crazy on these blossoms (which I was under the impression were Island Bush Poppies) as can be seen in this fuzzy photo of six bees on a Hypericum. It’s covered with bees mid June to late July.

Bee diving into Penstemon blossom. These start blooming June.

Dahlias, blackberries (main Oregon crop for bees), sunflowers, wall flowers, rosemary are also good bets for bees, as well as cotoneaster which grows wild and provides food late in the season.

These are plants we’ve had in our garden. I’m sure there are many more. Please fill free to add to the list in the comments.