Bombus Mixtus: This Bee Needs a Home!

As we were working in the Mount Pleasant Community Garden just before supper, we noticed this bumblebee queen sunning herself in a corner of a garden plot. The air was turning cold, and it felt like we might be in for a storm. How I wish she had a cozy little home to shelter inside! Now I am really motivated to make a bumblebee home. (See the post below.) I believe this shaggy bee is Bombus Mixtus. Notice the reddish hairs on her legs--something I've noticed in this species. Is it my imagination or are her wings a tad more reddish in hue than other Bombus? I dug a little divet near her with my pinky finger for a bit of shelter and she waved her arm at me--a classic defense warning: "Don't get too close, lady, or I'll sting you!" For those looking for help identifying Vancouver bees, check out this page by Dr. Elizabeth Elle at Simon Fraser University. She describes B. mixtus as a "boring" bee. I beg to differ! I think she's a shaggy beauty. And check out that mohawk!

We watched a mason bee working in a condo installed on the southeastern side of the garden shed. She needed to stop and sun herself every few minutes to stay warm enough to work. She will tuck herself inside an empty tunnel tonight as the storm passes through the city.

My Inaugural Citizen Scientist Survey

First you have to choose a site. It needs to be close to your home and have a diversity of flowering plants. It needs to be one block long. I was having an attack of indecisiveness, but in the end I decided to start with the Mount Pleasant Park and see how it worked out. I was torn between that area and my and my neighbour's gardens. Maybe I'll do them too.

You need to choose a good bee-watching day, preferable between 10 am and 3:30 pm. It had been unsettled all morning, but when the sun finally emerged, I headed down the hill with my zucchini plant and two "Hotlips" salvias. After planting these in the plot, I searched for plants that were busy with bees. Believe it or not, the best plant was the lovage in my garden, with these little adrena mining bees.

Then you have to choose three of the plants and count the bees on each for about 3 1/3 minutes each. This wasp appeared later, when I was documenting the plant visitors with my camera.

You can see the holes chewed in these bleeding heart blossoms by nectar robbers.

 There was no action on these broad bean plants.

We have to evaluate cloud cover, wind, rain and temperature.

One of my other choices was a clump of cranesbill geranium. You can see the bumble bee sticking her tongue right into that nectary.

This is the cranesbill geranium planting I watched.

This is my first nasturtium blossom for the year.

 My final plant was borage, or as I call it, bee porridge.

Can you believe this is common garden sage? It's blossoms and calyxes are so beautiful!

This was my first wooly carder bee sighting of the season. It exhibited bullying behaviour, knocking honeybees away from the blossoms.

The cloud cover returned and I headed home for supper. I've pasted the data below for those who are interested.

Pollinator Citizen Science Data Sheet Environmental Youth Alliance 2013

Name: Lori Weidenhammer Date: Wed., June 12 Time of Day: 4:40 pm

Location: Mount Pleasant Park and Community Garden Temp: 20 C Weather: W1 CC 4 Rain 0

Plant 1: Borago officinalis

Bumblebees: 4

Hairy Belly Bees: 0

Sweat/Mining Bees: 0

Honeybees: 5

Flies: 1 (syrphid)

Other

Pollen: white full loads

Plant 2: Lovage: Levisticum officinale

Bumblebees: 0

Hairy Belly Bees:0

Sweat/mining bees: 4

Honeybees: 2

Flies: 0

Other: 1 Ladybug

Pollen: native bees had mustard yellow pollen loads

Plant 3: Cranesbill Geranium 'Rozanne'? (City Planting)

Bumblebees: 6

Hairy Belly Bees: 0

Sweat/Mining Bees

Honeybees: 7

Other

Pollen: scant load

Notes:

The journey to the site:

The sun had just come out after an overcast and unsettled morning with only about 1 mm rain. I noted a bumble bee in a bleeding heart (cultivar) as I walked to the site. There were also bumble and honey bees in a ceanothus. There are about 3 California lilacs on my eight block walk down the hill. There are also many rugosa in bloom by the sidewalks and in curb and traffic circle plantings. The Bridal Bush (Spiraea) was almost spent, whereas a week ago it was in its prime. There are several mock jasmine in bloom, one with an aphid infestation and many ladybug larvae. The lavender is almost in bloom. Nepeta in bloom. One white syringa in bloom with syrphid flies visiting.

The Mount Pleasant Community Garden Raised Beds:

2 syrphid flies on non-climbing clematis

nasturtiums--no visitors

kale flowers: lots of bumble bees and honey bees

white clover: no action

thyme: nothing

pea blossoms (many): no action

salvia officinalis: honey bees and my first wooly carder bee sighting for the year--aggressive behaviour noted, defending this plant

corn poppies: no action

corn flowers: de nada

cerinthe (blue shrimp plant): bumble bee, lots of pollen

chives: no action

calendula: bumble bee

lots of tagetes: no action

crimson clover: no action

arugula: nothing

alyssum: nothing

Italian parsley: syrphid flies

lima beans: nothing
bleeding hearts: holes observed from nectar robbing

City Plantings:

yellow yarrow: no bees

Salvia (something like Purple Rain?) busy with bumble bees. There are several groupings of this plant in the park, along with the cranesbill geranium and yarrow.

white syringa: honey bees and bumble bees. These three trees are quite new.

curry plant: no action

cream-colored iris in the wet garden: nothing

Scenes from a Community Garden

 What up? Look at the florets around the edge of the calendula centre. That's where the nectar is. Is that pollen on your forehead?

A mason bee stops to groom on a viola.

 The same bee hides from the paparazzi. You can faintly see the pollen on her scopa.

The holes are filling up fast. I'm thinking we may have to put a bird guard on this baby because it might be tempting to flickers.

There's a bee on the thyme. Small flowers, small bee.

 It's easier to take photos of bees when they are resting or grooming.

Snacking on Kale Blossoms

 I am happy to announce that Madame Beespeaker is diversifying her portfolio! This year I will be doing projects about hummingbird awareness and will be performing hummingbird interventions--growing plants that attract hummers to community gardens. The first planting day was this week with a class at Simon Fraser Elementary in their school plots at the Mount Pleasant Community Garden. While we planted scarlet runner beans and nasturtiums for the hummingbirds, we snacked on kale  and brussel sprout blossoms.

 

It was fun to see the look of surprise on the children's faces as they tasted a brassica flower for the first time. "It's really good! I didn't expect to like it, but it's better than broccoli! Can I have some more? What else can I eat? Can I eat this sunflower? I can't stop eating these kale flowers. I'm addicted!" The bees love them too, and we have been surrounded by bumble bees, honey bees and mason bees sipping nectar and collecting pollen as we garden. This project has been sponsored by a Vancouver Foundation Small Neighborhood Grant. Many Thanks!

 Today I tried to get some more folks hooked on kale blossoms at the community kitchen at the Moberly Community Arts Centre. Mohinder gave them a try for the first time. . . .

 The verdict? A very cheeky smile tells me she likes them too.

 We drank chai, ate kale blossoms and sweets and chatted about kale, scarlet runner beans and nasturtiums--a trifecta of healthy foods that are easy to grow in your garden. All three plants have beautiful edible flowers and the hummingbirds love the scarlet bean flowers and the nasturtiums as well. The ladies also wanted some perennials, so I bought them some Monarda didyma plants at the UBC Botanical Garden sale. I put some in the Moberly Herb Garden so we can make tea when the plants are established. Monarda is a trifecta pollinator plant. It is a food plant for some lepidoptera (including some that feed exclusively on Monarda species) as well as forage for bumble bees and hummingbirds. It is an atypical bee plant, in that it is red, which is a color bees see as black. Bumble bees also love scarlet runner beans, and they are also atypical bee plants. Scarlet runner beans, unlike common beans, need to be" tripped" by pollinators, even though they self pollinate.

 I gave tips on planting these hummingbird attractors and also taught them how to protect their garden from slugs, which was a big hit! This project is made possible by The Moberly Community Arts Centre. I look forward to more afternoons in the Moberly Community herb garden with these lovely ladies.