Newsy Mcnews Face

I have news!!!!! First off, I am heading to Vancouver island to do a talk on gardening for bumblebees for the Russell Nursery Anniversary talks series this Sunday at 1:30 pm tickets are $18. The talk is at Kildara Farms, located in Deep cove, at the tip of the Saanich peninsula. I’m so looking forward to having the space and time to rattle on about bees for an hour and a half—much more time than the 10-minute Ted Talk model. This lecture will stuffed with all sorts of ideas for bumblebee gardens and I’ll have time to go into more detail with some of my adventure stories.

If you are in Vancouver, please head to the Environmental Youth Alliance Wild About Spring Celebration—you must register to participate, but you can go to a wild pollinator workshop and take home some native plants. Saturday, March 25, 12:30 pm Strathcona community garden.

I’ve just returned from Alberta (see the posts below) where I’ve been to Seedy Saturday in Calgary, and Seedy Sunday in Edmonton. I met all sorts of gardeners who are interesting in growing flowers and building nesting boxes for over 20 species of bumblebees they have in that province. Check out the links on my web site to another site called Border Free Bees with a file on how you can build a nesting box for bumblebees in a info sheet compiled by bumblebee scientist Ralph Cartar and Luc Pelletier.

I also had a really interesting conversation with a veternarian who told me that her profession is increasingly being asked to diagnose and treat managed bee species. Stay tuned for more thoughts on that topic.

Photo: A Bembix sand wasp, which is the carnivore that evolved into the vegan and became the first bee. These are not the wasps that "bring the sting". They are sweet, gentle, and quite beautiful.

I am thrilled to be honored with the nomination for an INDIE book of the year award. This has just been announced and it’s great timing as we try to get copies of Victory Gardens for bees into peoples hands as they hit prime gardening season. Again, I’d like to acknowledge the team—team BEE—especially my editor Carol Pope who worked to make this book work for bees. Someone in Calgary mentioned that they wanted to buy the book as a coffee table book—which is great—but I want you to use it, make it dog-eared, write notes in the margins—put that book to work gardening for bees. You could always buy two copies—one for the garden and one for the coffee table which is what I know at least one person has done!!!!!

And on that note: put a couple of dates on your calendar: Alpine Garden Club of BC plant sale at VanDusen gardens, April 1, VanDusen Botanical Garden plant sale April 30. Check the plant shop at UBC Botanical Gardens and Figaro’s Garden—they will set you up with pesticide free bee plants.

Also, I really encourage everyone to try growing at least one plant from seed this year. There is nothing more inspiring, than the miracle of seed-to-flower-to fruit. Start with chives or nodding onions, and prepare to get hooked on a new healthy habit. I'm so happy that West Coast Seeds is now carrying my book!!!!!!!!!! So order your copy and put in your seed order at the same time!

 Photo: Did you know blueberries need bumblebees for polliantion? Join me in a picnic with the bumblebees at UBC Farm.


 First Saturday Tea with the Bees:
 The first Saturday in May and June we'll be hosting tea with the bees in the blueberry rows and orchards. Let's start a family tradition of seasonal picnics celebrating the connection between what's bloomin' and what's pollinatin'.

Life in the Bee Lane:

I have attended one public consultation meeting for The Arbutus Greenway plan, and I’m happy to announce the City of Vancouver is planting a temporary bee lane along the path with pollinator wildflowers. Please go online and fill out the survey and encourage the planners to make the bee lane a permanent feature. As we lose backyard bee habitat every day to developers and people add honeybees to the urban environment, we need to keep adding bee forage to keep up and feed our precious native wild bees.

Neonics in the News:

The Canadian government is getting serious about banning neonics. (Or is it one neonic, singular?) Anyhow, please tell the government to ban Imidacloprid—either via the Wilderness Committee links or the David SuzukiFoundation or both-- BEFORE March 23. Do it today!!!!!

Photo: Did you know that Yellow Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureas) is a dye plant!!!! Can’t wait to grow some this year). The photo above was taken at City Farmer in Vancouver.

All the photos except the final one were taken at Earthwise  Farm and Garden in Delta. This is one of the best places to buy organic flowers for bees in the Lower Mainland.

Best of luck with all your gardening adventures!!!

Cheers,

Lori