Bee-Watching at the Devonian Gardens

 My friend Sue and I visited the Devonian Gardens, just 15 minutes out of Edmonton. Since it's on the way to the airport, it was very convenient to visit on the way home. One of the plants that attracted the most varieties and numbers of bees was thyme, planted in carpets all through the main garden. These carpets provide important pollinator pathways throughout the gardens.

I don't think the pollen this honeybee has collected is from the thyme, but she is definitely topping up on nectar here.

This mystery mint was very popular with the bumblebees. It was difficult to find some of the labels.

There was a nice collection of columbines here in the shade. I think they look best mixed up like this.

 This aesthetic, introduced at the entrance to the garden was common throughout the site, with an emphasis on xeriscape plants. I'm excited that shrubby penstamon in hardy to this zone. It's such a beautiful bumblebee plant. In the background of this photo you can see some children dressing as bugs, bees and butterflies for a special family program in the garden.

So this is the silver lupin that is native to the prairies. It's gorgeous.

 In the foreground you'll see a species of plantain that was attracting bees.

 These chives by the lake were the largest I've ever seen!

 Here's some milkweed from by favorite part of the garden, the native Alberta plants.

 Slopes entirely covered in pebbles--not so great for ground nesting bees.

Gardens with patches of bare soil were covered with ground-nesting bees.

There were lots of leafcutter bees on these asters. I like the combination with the seed heads of the pulsatilla.

 This hardy yellow rose reminds me of my grandma May, who had them in her garden in Luseland, Saskatchewan.

I think this Assiniboine rose is what I was seeing all over Edmonton, full of bumblebees.

Don't you think this would be the perfect place for a princess-themed birthday party?

Here are some nets, ready for kids to play with bugs.

 This dainty plant is blue woodruff.

 I'm curious whether the colour variation in the Veronica is two cultivars side by side.

And it seems this Veronica is mislabeled as Salvia. No?

Sue snaps photos of some Canada Geese goslings.

The Japanese garden is tranquil, but eerie. No bees. It's too manicured and lacking in bee forage.

Only there were some swallowtail butterflies dancing on the irises.

What a treat to finally visit a garden I have passed by so many time since my childhood, always imagining it was a garden based on the Devonian geological era! I can't wait to return.

Father's Day Garlic Chives and Thyme: Squeeze it In for the Bees

It seems like not long ago the mason bees were pollinating the cherry blossoms and now the fruits are already starting to turn red. The B.C. strawberries are ready to pick and by all accounts it has been a great year for that crop, with just enough sun and rain to make the berries juicy and ripe. It's time to take the spring radishes out of the garden and switch to the winter radishes--you can buy black radish seeds at West Coast Seeds. I've got some Holy Basil to transplant out into the garden, and then it will be time to clean up the back porch to get the winter garden seedling going. The sugar snap peas are coming fast and furious and the baby fava beans are growing by leaps and bounds. Some of the squash plants have buds on them. The garlic is scaping, the blackberries are blooming and the air is thick with the fragrance of climbing roses.

The hebe at Moberly Community Herb garden has bloomed for the first time in four years since the garden was first installed and it is attracting little turquoise sweat bees. The variegated sage is fiercely defended by wooly carder bees and the leaf cutter bees have started to cut polka dots out of my rose leaves just as we are saying toodleloo and pip pip to the final spring mason bees.

The gardens are pretty full, but I will still sow skinny little plants in between what is there. Verbena bonariensis is a great peek-a-boo-perennial for hummingbirds and bees that you can squeeze into your garden. The fall/winter starts are coming out in the stores now and you can buy sweet little baby garlic chives to squeeze in a pot or a garden just in time for father's day, or buy little pot of thyme for father's who have all the time in the world for their children. Squeeze in some alyssum and little patches of blossoming sedum, but do create bare, sandy patches of soil for those ground-nesting bees. Buy a big strawberry pot and fill it with well-draining sandy soil and see if the ground-nesting bees will use it to make a home. You can add some rocks and shells add interest, but leave bare patches for the bees. Use the current craze for miniature gardens to create a scene or two in your pot.

Join me tomorrow at Champlain Heights for Vancouver Draw Down fun and then Sunday at the Village Vancouver transition Village at Main and 13^th where I will be hanging out with Brian Campbell of the Bee School dude. Bring your burning questions about bees!

Hot Tip: Shanti's Curries, a new shop on Main between 25^th and 26^th will be selling some awesome crispy onion pakoras and Shaktea will be giving out samples of their new house-made crumpets.

Photo: Easter egg radishes and pickled sunchokes

Mock Orange Visitors

 This is a variety of mock orange I don't see very often. It has four petals with that tinge of pink near the nectaries, which makes me think this would be the best variety for bee visitors. It was about 6:30 pm when I took this photograph. Most bees had gone in for the evening, but the aphid eaters were busy at work.

 This is a ladybug pupae, conspicuous against the creamy white petal. These bushes are filling the dusky humid air with a heady scent, redolent of jasmine. They will provide the "smell track" to my evening's entertainment: watching murder mysteries in exotic climates.

Citizen Scientist Uniforms with The Environmental Youth Alliance

It's June. School's almost over, the sun is shining and the world is full of distractions. That must be why my son forgot his lunch kit. That must be why I was late returning his lunch kit because I had to stop and take photos of the bees mobbing this Bridal Bush on the Ontario bike route. I am imagining a future Vancouver in which are bike routes are also bee routes and pollinator corridors.

There are late bloomers and late rises and here's a mason bee when I thought all the mason bees had finished their cycle for the season. There were also honey bees, bumble bees, and syrphid flies on this bush and the California lilac beside it.

 I met Erin Udal at what is unofficially the Citizen Scientist club house in Strathcona Community Garden. We silk-screened the logos she designed onto t-shirts to wear while we are monitoring native bee populations in our neighbourhood over the summer. So if you see us wearing these uniforms, carrying clipboards, and counting bees feel free to ask us what we're doing because we love to talk about bees.

This is a line drawing of a mason bee.  This is a two colour print with the registration slightly shifted.