Inspired by City Farmer

 Earlier this month I spent a lovely afternoon in the garden at City Farmer. I was happy to find Sharon and Michael sitting out the quiet rain shower and chatting about garden stuff. I was charmed by a hummingbird coming down to have a wee sip at the Verbena bonariensis. This plant also attracts butterflies and bees and can be planted instead of buddleia, even though it is not as "moreish" as the Butterfly Bush. I like how each stem  has three stems which in turn bear three stems. It's like a delicate candelabra.

When the rain let up I took a few photos of some of the inspired and inspiring planting.
 These orange cosmos are perfect for matching the colors of fall flowers.

These lovely insect hotels are maintained by the resident "Bug Lady" at City Farmer, Maria Keating.

Be sure to check out City Farmer's award winning blog by Michael Levenston and go see the garden to get yourself inspired!

New Bee on the Block

 I've been chasing her for three days: the elusive "I'm not a Vosnesenskii" queen. I first saw her at the back of my neighbor Jean's house in the fennel, but she evaded me. I saw her again yesterday across the street in the tall coneflowers at Kelly's house, but she flew off before I could even get the camera out of its pocket. Today I finally found her in Jean's oregano (or is it marjorum?).

She has a beautiful velvety black abdomen, with very little yellow at the top. She's got black fur around her compound eyes, and a kind of blonde mohawk with its dark roots showing.

 Then when I got home I realized I'd shot a photo of one of her (smaller) daughters at the goldenrod in Catherine's yard. The garden has a corner with blackberries, goldenrod and buddleia which is currently a very popular bee spot.

When I looked closely at this boy covered in pollen, I suspect it may be of the same nest. Now for identification. It sort of looks like Brown-belted Bumble Bee, one of the 35 species native to British Columbia. You can see a fabulous photo here on E-Fauna. But then I found a site I've never seen before called Bee Spotter and I'm looking at the Bombus impatiens or Common Eastern Bumblebee and I have a queasy feeling, this is what I might be seeing. What do you think? Is it an escapee from a greenhouse or a local yokel?

This post is dedicated to Jean's father Tony who left us three days ago, about the same time I started seeing this mystery bee.

Mango Lassies for Bees: Avens Geum 'Mango Lassi'

I was in VanDusen Gardens on Sunday doing Citizan Scientist training with Erin Udall of the Environmental Youth Alliance. It was cool and overcast, threatening rain, but by eleven thirty the bees were out foraging. I discovered this amazing variety of Avens that would be wonderful in a bee garden. This little bee is one of my favorite solitary bees, with the big pollen pants and the buff hairs on its thorax. It is so calm that you can stick the camera right into the flower, and it just ignores you.

And here is what I deem the Vozzy Bear of Bumble Bees: Bombus vosnesenskii.

It's funny, because these days I am developing a recipe for kale blossom mango smoothies with freshly grated turmeric, fresh mango, yogurt, coconut water, ice cubes and kale blossoms. Manog smoothies all around!

The Plight of the Lost Bumblebee

 I spent the day at Aberthau yesterday, singing with the preschool class, walking the grounds and thinking about lost bumble bees. As you can see, the rhodos and azaleas are blooming in some beautiful colours. I have a confession to make: Rhodos and their family leave me cold. I'm not a fan.

 They have a short bloom season, their value to pollinators in questionable and their nectar contains toxins. I am preparing a longer post with more information on rhodo pollination, but for now, take a look at the stamens and pistils.

Flowers go through stages: first they produce sticky chains of pollen, then they moisten their feminine parts to receive sticky chains from other flowers. Then they die. It's all very wham bam.

The spent blossoms of Rhododendrons lie about like red bloomers strewn about a boudoir above a Wild West saloon.

 The gardeners, bless them, had just mowed the lawn and top dressed the beds. This looks pretty and neat to humans, but it is disasterous to ground-dwelling bumble bees.

 I snapped this photo of a distressed queen bumble bee who has lost the  visual map to her nest hole. Ground-nesting bees and wasps have an internal map of their nest site that they develop from the flight positions above the ground. Once the points of reference has been moved or removed, the insect can get confused. I was really upset by this bee's attempts to find her nest with all its baby bees. Without her, they are helpless and will die. Top dressing closes the holes to the nests and makes them inaccessible. Bumble bees need us to leave our gardens alone, especially at this time of the year. We need to be more sensitive to their needs.

If you have a pattern of daisies like this and you build your nest  next to it, then you can see how the daisies would be reference points, changing slowly as the bud, blossom, and fade, but if one day the mower beheads the daisies, you can see how it would be disconcerting.

We all need reference points in our lives: markers, signs, mountains, trees, and such. It is hard when those markers shift and change.

Sharon Kallis and friends wove this memorial spinning wheel out of willow.

 

This giant raised bed will be planted with flax for linen production and other plants that can be used for textile dyes. Many of these plants also support the pollinators, including the bumble bees.

On the way home I saw a bumble bee queen trapped inside, flinging herself at the window. I allowed her to crawl on my finger and let her fly out. Sadly, she too will be separated from her nest and will have to start all over again from scratch.

I am reminded of a little tour a group of neighbors made to look at a stepping stone project. As we reached one part of the sidewalk a little boy named Noah guided us all around a bumble bee resting on the sidewalk. "Walk around the bumble bee," he directed. I was touched by his actions and now I teach children how to take a piece of paper, slide it under a bee and put her in the sun to warm up. Blow your warm breath on her, give her some love and we can try to save one bee and one nest at a time.

Leapin' Lupins!

I am really excited about the new bee gardens project that EYA is creating. I decided to pop out to Oak Meadows Park adjacent to VanDusen Gardens to help plant a bee garden. The park has a lovely natural meadow feel to it. Here we are lookin' at lupins.

 Lupins are a plant much loved by bumble bees. Here you can see the playing fields of Eric Hamber High School to the north of the park.

I was watching a little bumble bee peacefully pollinating a lupin and a bright neon yellow crab spider popped out and grabbed the bumble bee.

Some crab spiders can actually change color to mimic the flower. I should have opened up a blossom so we could see what color the interior looks like.

Needless to say, this poor bee didn't see what was coming and he was zapped with venom. The spider will take the bee to a convenient perch and suck it dry. Bye bye bee.