January | 2020 | Golden Glow Gardens®

Spring is fast approaching and if you are a gardener like me you are thinking about how quickly you can get your hands in the soil and some plants in the ground.

In Southern California where Golden Glow Gardens beehives are located, we are lucky to have a climate where our bees can forage for pollen and nectar almost year-round. Even in the coldest month of January, our native rosemary’s purple blossoms are filled with our bees.

Being a beekeeper, I always think about how I can include more bee friendly plants and flowers in my garden to make a sanctuary for honeybees and other beneficial pollinators. This is as easy as planting a small cluster of native wildflowers, herbs or a flowering vegetable garden. Keep it natural, organic, chemical free, let it continue to flower and you will be providing a vital food source for your local bee population. As an added bonus your vegetables will thrive from being well-pollinated and you’ll have a bumper crop of veggies at harvest time. Here are some simple guidelines I follow.

Choose plants that attract bees – Bees love native wildflowers, flowering herbs, berries and many flowering fruits and vegetables. While bee balm is the flower that may spring to mind first, depending on which growing zone you live in, there are many other plants that guaranteed to attract honeybees, and keep them happy at your property.
Some honeybee favorites plants (listed alphabetically by kind)

Annuals
Asters
Calliopsis
Clover
Cosmos
Dandelions
Marigolds
Poppies
Sunflowers
Zinnias
Perennials
Buckwheat
Buttercups
Clematis
Cosmos
Crocuses
Dahlias
Echinacea
English Ivy
Foxglove
Geraniums
Germander
Globe Thistle
Hollyhocks
Hosta
Hyacinth
Rock Cress
Roses
Sedum
Snapdragons
Snowdrops
Squills
Tansy
Tulips and all bulbs
Yellow Hyssop
Garden Plants
Blackberries
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Gourds
Melon
Peppers
Pumpkins
Raspberries
Squash
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Watermelons
Wild Garlic
Witch Hazel
Herbs
Bee Balm
Borage
Calendula
Catnip
Chives
Coriander/Cilantro
Fennel
Lavender
Mints
Oregano
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Shrubs
Blueberry and all berries
Butterfly Bush
Button Bush
Honeysuckle
Indigo
Privet
Trees
Alder
American Holly
Basswood
Black Gum
Black Locust
Buckeyes
Catalpa
Eastern Redbud
Fruit Trees (especially
Crabapples)
Golden Rain Tree
Hawthorns
Hazels
Linden
Magnolia
Maples
Mountain Ash
Sycamore
Tulip
Poplar
Willows

Avoid using herbicides or pesticides in the bee garden. They not only can be toxic to bees but also are best not introduced to children or adults that visit your garden. Ladybugs, beneficial nematodes, spiders, and praying mantises will naturally keep pest populations in check

Skip the Highly Hybridized Varieties. These plants have been bred not to produce seeds, so they also produce very little pollen for bees.

Group the same plants together – Try to plant at least one square yard of the same plant together to make a perfect bee attractor. But if you are short on space planting just a few wildflowers or herbs in a planter or window box is all that’s needed to provide more foraging habitat for the honeybee.

Pick plants with long blooming cycles – Or choose plants with successive blooms. This way the bees will keep coming back again and again. A seed kit like this makes attracting bees to your garden easy.

Select Single Flower Top Plants such as daisies and marigolds, rather than double flower tops such as double impatiens. Double-headed flowers look luxurious, but produce much less nectar and are so dense with petals, they make it more difficult for bees to access the pollen stamens deep inside the flower.

Provide a fresh water source – Bees need a place to get fresh, clean water. A pond, a fountain, even a swimming pool (especially if it is low or no chlorine fresh water), a waterfall or water feature. Fill a shallow container of water with pebbles or twigs for the bees to land on while drinking. Make sure to maintain the container full of fresh water to ensure that they know they can return to the same spot every day in your bee garden. A bird bath with plants or stones for the bees to rest on, a slowly dripping hose, or almost any shallow water source will work.
Mind standing fresh water for mosquito breeding though!
(as an aside on this topic, I highly recommend a fascinating book, “The Path Between Two Seas,” about the building of the Panama Canal. Talk about the dangers of mosquitoes in standing water!) Dew-covered plants are bee favorites in the morning. Leaves full of fresh morning dew, and newly watered potted plants are favorite destinations for bees. </li><li>DO NOT use pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals in your garden – Or anywhere in your yard! Most of these chemicals are toxic to bees and have widespread effects which are detrimental to animals, including humans, plants, beneficial insects and other native pollinators. This ban also applies to products professional gardeners use. They don’t live at your house and they are rewarded when the properties they tend LOOK great. We want healthy over pretty. When in doubt, leave it out. <a rel=”noreferrer noopener” href=”http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/neonicotinoids-gardens/” target=”_blank”>This article explains how toxic some backyard chemicals are to bees.</a> </li><li>Appreciate the beauty of weeds– Dandelions, clovers, borage, milkweed, goldenrod and other flowering weeds are very important food sources for bees. Living in a natural desert as we do, we don’t have any lawns, but if you have lawns, consider allowing the dandelions and clover that pop up to persist. Many gardeners try to eradicate these plants, which they treat as weeds. But they are vital plants for a bees’ survival. If you can let them grow to the point of flowering, your bees will thank you. </li><li>Let your plants flower – To the point I made in #6, try to leave the flowers on your plants as long as possible. If you are growing herbs or vegetables, harvest what you need to eat, but leave the rest of the plant to grow. Broccoli, artichokes and brussel sprouts are good examples of plants where you can take what you need, and then leave the plant to continue growing. This is better to store up the plant’s energy for the next growing season anyway (providing you have heirlook, regenerating plants, and not GMO-modified plants that will not self-propagate. When you are done let the plants go to flower for the bee-pollinators and leave them in the garden until the flowers are gone. </li>

Here are some sources of bee safe seeds to grow bee friendly plants.

PHOTO: COUNTLESS HIVES AND MILLIONS OF BEES HAVE BEEN LOST IN NSW BUSHFIRES. (SUPPLIED: AUSTRALIA’S MANUKA)

Beekeepers checking on hives are some of the first people into fire-ravaged forests, and are not prepared for the traumatic sights and sounds of wounded and suffering animals.

NSW Apiarists Association president Stephen Targett said the situation in north-eastern NSW was “truly devastating” to beekeepers and extremely traumatic.

“It’s doing their heads in, the screaming animals, the animals that are in pain, that are crying out in the forest, it’s absolutely horrific,” Mr Targett said.

“One beekeeper employs some young people and it has really traumatised them.

“So the beekeeper has arranged counselling for these young beekeepers who went into the forest and he won’t allow them back into the forest for a period of time.

“These older beekeepers will go in and make sure the forest isn’t screaming at them before they allow these young people back in.”

Concern for Mental Health
The impact of the drought and now bushfires has worn beekeepers down.

More than a million hectares has burnt in NSW since the start of this year’s bushfire season, with hives and key foraging country for bees burnt out.

Peter Matthison from Elands, south-west of Port Macquarie, estimated he had lost 70 per cent of his hives and 90 per cent of the sites he used for his bees.

“I’m a pretty resilient guy, but I’ve lost a lot of bees,” Mr Matthison said.

“Those bees are more than livestock to me … I think of them like I’m their dad a bit, I look after them and they look after me.”

“If I have to watch [more hives] burn after we’ve lost a hell of a lot already, I just don’t even know about starting over again, I just don’t know what to do next.”

Impacts of fires to be felt for years.

PHOTO: LITTLE REMAINS OF SOME OF PETER MATTHISON’S BEEHIVES THAT WERE IN THE PATH OF A FIRE BURNING ON THE MID-NORTH COAST OF NSW. (SUPPLIED: ASPEN CHARLESWORTH)

Despite the devastation, Mr Matthison was starting to think about rebuilding — a process that would involve sacrificing honey production for a year to split hives “over and over again” to build up numbers.

“I’ve got just enough hives that if I decide to keep going I could start rebuilding over the next year or two,” he said.

“It’s pretty much decimated most of our business, not just the bees but all of the forest and the plants that we use to make the honey.”

Mr Matthison said it would be at least three years before he could use some of his sites again, some of which supplied flowers for the highly sought-after Manuka honey.

“Up and down the coast it seems like most of what burnt first was all of that coastal Manuka country, and we won’t get to make honey on that for at least three years,” he said.

Mr Targett believed a three-year recovery estimate was conservative.

“The fires were that hot in places that some beekeepers, who have a fairly good understanding of their local bush, don’t believe those trees will be flowering or producing nectar and pollen for the bees for at least 20 years and in some cases they don’t believe it’ll be in their lifetime,” he said.

Finding sites with Manuka trees was crucial.

“Without Manuka honey in our pattern for the next three years, we won’t survive on regular table honey, it’s not worth it for us,” Mr Matthison said.

Further north, Michael Howes from Australia’s Manuka was also moving hives because of bushfires. But that was proving a challenge with drought gripping much of the state.

“At the moment we have 300 on other sites … we are slowly moving them out depending on whether there’s any nectar coming in,” Mr Howes said.

“With the drought, the trees are flowering. But there’s no nectar there for the bees, so we’re monitoring that, and as that worsens we’re moving them out and trying to find better pastures so to speak.”

Cost of honey to rise

Mr Targett warned consumers would soon pay more for their honey.

“In the short term it will definitely reduce the honey production in the state, so you’re likely to see a price increase happen in the short term at least,” he said.

“It won’t be a doubling of the price of honey — but prices will move up.

“It’s not just [bad] for honey production … bees are worth far more to the NSW economy through pollination.”

Seeking new areas

The NSW Apiarists Association is calling on anyone with land available for bees to get in touch.

“I’ve received phone calls from people who have land, they’ve got a farm, and no beekeeper is putting bees on their farm, and they have rung me up and said, ‘I have 100 acres, beekeepers are welcome to put bees on there if they wish’,” Mr Targett said.

“I get their contact details and flick it out to NSW Apiarists Association branches and then the branches flick it out to the members, and if any of the members require somewhere for their hives they can contact these farmers.

“It’s very much appreciated. People are thinking about bees and the importance of bees for food security, regional employment, and everything like that — it’s great.”

Mr Targett also hoped to work with the State Government to allow beekeepers to use public land including national parks to temporarily house beehives while the bushland recovers.

PHOTO: AS WELL AS LOSING HIVES, BEEKEEPER PETER MATTHISON HAS LOST MUCH OF THE LAND HIS BEES FORAGE ON. (SUPPLIED: ASPEN CHARLESWORTH)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-20/beekeepers-traumatised-by-screaming-animals-after-bushfires/11721756?pfmredir=sm&fbclid=IwAR2prY9jJa04jL7bXhOOzFARHqJh9L2pwYhoCxCxmXeUfxE0cPscxf57bHc

[Thank you to BeeGirl for sharing on your Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SarahBeeGirl/.]

Golden Glow Gardens®

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Archive | January 2020

Planting a Bee Friendly Garden

Beekeepers Traumatized and Counseled After Hearing Animals Screaming in Pain After Australian Bush Fires

“These older beekeepers will go in and make sure the forest isn’t screaming at them before they allow these young people back in.”

“Those bees are more than livestock to me … I think of them like I’m their dad a bit, I look after them and they look after me.”

“It’s pretty much decimated most of our business, not just the bees but all of the forest and the plants that we use to make the honey.”

“With the drought, the trees are flowering. But there’s no nectar there for the bees, so we’re monitoring that, and as that worsens we’re moving them out and trying to find better pastures so to speak.”