Eco-Wineries Can Be Good for Bees

The day after the storm was bright and sunny. We drove to Summergate, which is a family-owned organic winery.

I like to support organic wineries, especially when they plant flowers for bees and make an effort to leave some weeds to blossom for them. I'm not sure what this dandelion-ish plant is, but it was full of different species of pollinators.

Composition wise, this is one of my favorite photos of the trip to the Okanagan. I love the dynamic clouds in that impossibly blue sky and the way that bumblebee is just hugging that pollen-laden flower. The fence acts like a kind of musical score, and the flowers are like the notes dancing across the page. Weeds can be beautiful when they are brought to life with the magical presence of bees.

This melissodes bee reminds me of a tiny blue-eyed cowboy with outrageously oversized chaps. Pistils at dawn, pardner.

But first, a drink at the nectar saloon.

And another . . . .

It's also lovely to see chickens and a veggie patch at a working winery.

There's quite a bit of alfalfa blooming around the Okanagan for honeybees, but it's just about the end of the bloom season for them as they madly prepare for winter. They would benefit from large swathes of fireweed, asters and goldenrod. Before heading south, we bought some lovely Kerner and Gewurtz to help bring some Okanagan memories home with us.

Just before Oliver, we had lunch at a cafe in a church. I was impressed by this cactus displaying its muscles. Wouldn't it be amazing in bloom!

Covert farms produces veggies and wine, with owners who are environmental stewards. Jasna and I spent a long time swooning over the wildflower meadow the gardener has planted near the tasting lounge.

More wineries should plant meadows like this. They are like living artworks.

This milkweed was in bloom in the meadow and all around the southern Okanagan.

And when you see cuckoo bees, you know it's a healthy sign of insect biodiversity.

The meadow was full of little surprises. We were thrilled to see some rocky mountain bee plant here.

Jasna bought some of their lovely fruit to take home. Young couples were taking advantage of the U-pick prices.

And we took one more peek at the goldenrod to check out the multitude of insects it was attracting. I bought a bottle of their beautiful blush wine to take home. Wish I could have bought a case!

Summerland Bees: Those Hairy-Legged Beasties

Road trip! Yay! I've always wanted to brake for lupins, and that's exactly what we did, between Merritt and Peachland on highway 97C.

 There were many color variations in the lupins at the site and it was mysteriously bereft of bees, but miserably rich in mosquitoes, being a bit wet and soggy.

I was reduced to immortalizing a handsome syrphid on Douglas aster.

There were wild strawberries all over this site, reminding me of summer camp in the foothills of Alberta.  Those red runners are a striking feature.

Not sure what this is. Can anyone help me with the ID? It's about 2.5 to 3 feet tall.

 #CookingwithPooh #localwildingredients (-:

There was pearly everlasting and pussytoes here too.

There's a lot packed into this small ground sample: red capped fungus, wild strawberry, lupin, yarrow, and something else.

I'll just call it nipple fungus--for burlesque reasons--and here's the underside of the cap.

 This shrub looked like Labrador tea, but it wasn't quite right. The leaves were too soft. Something in the rhodo family.

 There was also this cool, black leathery fungus.

It looks like a man-eating plant here. Or maybe a bee-eating plant.

I also found a yellow spongey fungus. I was forced to look at mycelium because there just weren't any bees. Le sigh.

Pussy toes and (maybe) gentian.

 And now for a completely different landscape we headed to the Summerland Ornamental Gardens Xeriscape Garden. I just head straight to the beds by the cacti. It's hummingbird alley, with the tiny hummers zooming over and around you as you ignore them to take photos of bees.

Gotta love the way the bees crawl into the penstamen flowers, but then they are hard to photograph in their private foraging chamber. I saw a hoplitis on these for sure, but couldn't get a photo.

I think this is a hyperparasitoid wasp that was noodling around on the plumbago foliage.

 I had a gut feeling this would be good agapostemon territory. Look at how those large pollen grains bulk up the setae on her legs.

I was most excited about this sighting. Look at how the legs kind of mimic the stamens. It's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins when the bee is in the flower. Anthophora or Melissodes? I've got to think about this one!

I'm wondering if these holes were made by small leafcutter bees?

Let's plant some of this purple poppy mallow!

There were scores of "tiny shinies" in the garden, and many hb's.

 I'm thinking this is an Andrena with a very distinct marking on the lowest tergite. (See below.) It almost looks like a faux stinger. Clever bee.

Next, we drove down to Linden Gardens, south of Penticton. There was an uncanny lack of bees in the garden, which should have been buzzing with activity. I noticed the bumblebees we did see were incredibly skittish. We saw Bombus griseocollis here and at the Summerland Xeriscape garden. even though she's a bit worn, the pollen from some other flower she visited is stuck in the sweet spot on the lower middle of her thorax.

Then suddenly a storm came out of nowhere, and just about blew us away. We figured the smaller bees had sensed it coming and wisely took shelter.

This might be small leaf cutter action on hydrangea petals and leaves. But where are the bees?

This bench would be a fun place for a photo shoot.

Is it just me, or does this bee have a really weird head gestalt??? I mean it looks like Bombus, but not with that squashed head and bulging eyes.

Deconstructed pavlova in the sweet garden cafe. You had me at whipped cream.

A pic of the glads because my mom likes them and used to grow them in her veggie garden.