Texas Bee Watchers

Aren't Honeybees Native Bees?

The Bay Area Basketmakers is a group of artists that make baskets. That's an understatement, actually. They make beautiful and unusual baskets. The last two years, I have been lucky enough to attend their annual retreat near Donner Pass in Northern California.  So what's this got to do with native bees?

Turns out basketmakers are native bee fans-big time!  

Their newsletter editor has been a friend of mine for several years. This year, while the ladies of the BABM showed me how to make a basket (it's not easy, folks!), they kindly agreed to make a few bee question and humor videos for us.  I'll be posting them over the next few weeks.

Here's our first question from the Bay Area Basket Makers.  If you didn't catch the earlier appearance of the BABM's on the Texas Bee Watchers website, click here.

 

 

 Hi, Jutta!  Now, I know you know the answer to this question, but for beewatchers out there in cyberspace who wonder about this . . . the answer is nope, nada, no way!

The honeybees  (Apis) can be found in the fossil record going back 40 million years or so. They probably started in tropical eastern Africa, and then migrated to Asia and Europe. So that pretty much means they are not native to the Western Hemisphere.

Turns out that our honeybees (Apis mellifera) actually came over from Europe. There is a historical record that states that the Virginia Company in London sent beehives over to Virginia with early colonists in 1622. Those bees were probably sent over for their ability to produce honey.

By 1800 the honeybees had crossed the Appalachians.

A different subspecies (Apis mellifera iberica--Spanish honeybees) was sent off to Brazil sometime between 1800 and 1839. Those bees were probably initially used for their wax production. The wax was used to make candles for the church.

Still another subspecies (Apis mellifera ligustica--Italian honeybees) was imported from Italy at the end of the 19th century (1820-1930).

Honeybees were present in Texas by 1821 when Stephen F. Austin began his foray into Texas. It's interesting to think that there were no honeybees at all in Texas at one time.

Honeybees didn't make it over the Rockies to California by themselves. In 1853, a man named Christopher Shelton managed to get a hive's worth of honeybees to an area near San Jose. The State of California put up a highway marker to mark the site. You can see it by clicking here.

Thanks for asking about Honeybees, Jutta, and say Hi to all the wonderful basketmakers in theBay Area Basket Makers!

Girl Scout Builds Bee-Friendly Garden #7

 I've been out of town with difficult or impossible internet service for much of the last 5 months. But I'm really sorry that I couldn't give Ana Soto the public congratulations she deserved immediately when she sent me the information about her Gold Award Project for Girl Scouts.

Ana designed and planted a Bee-Friendly Garden at a school in Houston.  Below you will see photos of the garden, a link to Ana's blog about honeybees, and a link to a radio interview Ana gave in Houston in July.  This is quite a project for one Girl Scout to take on!

Here's part of the email Ana sent me: 

"I've been working on a pollinator garden in my community since last October.  It was part of my Girl Scout Gold Award, (like the Boy Scout Eagle Award) with San Jacinto Council.  Oddly enough, last August I had to come up with a name for my project and named it "Bee-Friendly"!  My project focused on honey bees, but we did install mason bee blocks and now have residents!  

The gardens were installed at Our Redeemer Lutheran North School, in Houston, TX, 77076.  The students seeded an area 6 x 165 ft with wildflower seeds.  This bed was tilled, grass was removed, but it had no windbreak, and we did not raise the bed or bring in soil.  It did not do as well as the observation beds, which were raised, and did have soil brought in.  

 The observation beds were planted closer to the classrooms and evolved into a garden that measures 4 x 36.  We planted hibiscus on either end in order to bring in other pollinators, and used the center portion for coral honeysuckle and morning glories.  We also built a 4 x 6 ft trellis for wisteria and cane roses.  

 
The wildflower beds contained 22 species of wildflowers which came up and bloomed at different times from early spring into the summer. 

 
This started out as a temporary project, but the school has decided to make it an ongoing project now.  The students have learned so much, and have enjoyed the flowers, finding all the different sort of pollinators that inhabit such a garden, and just being able to get outside and see something they've worked on come to life in such a magnificent way.

 I'm so proud of Ana and all the planning and work she did.  

Her list of plants includes: daisies, borage, lavender, siberian wallflower, corn flower, baby blue eyes, lance leaved coreopsis, core poppy, cosmos, purple coneflower, annual gaillardia, annual sunflower, glove gillia, rocky mountain bee plant, purple prairie clover, white rock cress, plains coreopsis, blackeyed susan, new England aster, aspen daisies, bergamot, forget me not, and (according to Ana) the most prolific toadflax!

Ana also took all these beautiful photos! She also has a blog describing her project which you can see by clicking on the link below.

Ana's Bee-Friendly Garden Project Website

Ana was also interviewed by KPFT in Houston.  You can hear this at the link below.

Ana's Radio Interview

And, there are more photos below.

Thank you, Ana. I'm proud to welcome you as the developer of Official Certified Texas Bee Garden #7. Because of your work, you will be responsible for introducing many children to bee watching and nature studies.  You're the best!

  

A Very Handy Manual for Bee Watchers

Drawing above from the Very Handy Bee Manual

I just added a link to the Very Handy Bee Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection (VHM) to the Navigation Pages (click on Bees in the Navigation Bar). This handy little manual explains various collecting techniques for those of you who would like to get a closer look at the native bees on your flowering plants. It also covers making a collection, pinning bees, and many other techniques useful for folks beginning to make a serious study of native bees.

Even if you are not interested in collecting some of your own native bees, you may find the VHM an interesting read to see how graduate students and field biologists collect bees.

The VHM will be available on the Bees page even after this post falls to the bottom of your page.

A School Garden Is the Third Official Certified Bee-Friendly Garden in Texas

 
 Checking for bluebonnet seeds at Small Middle School.

For 11 years, David Matthews, a teacher at Small Middle School in Austin, has taught kids to garden. Trees, shrubs, wildflowers. If it grows in Central Texas, you are likely to find it growing somewhere around the school.

Small Middle School occupies a large building. Three stories of eager kids: some of whom have learned how to grow plants from seeds, transplant them, water them, and mulch them for hot summers when no students are around. Along the way, they learn the types of wildlife, including native bees, that visit the plants in their gardens.

The kids know to look for sleeping bees in the Opuntia blossoms.

A large Aloysia gratissima is blooming this week.

 

A beautiful Goldenball Lead Tree (Leucaena retusa) provides some sweet-smelling flowers for the native bees. See the close-up of the flower below. This tree can be hard to find at plant nurseries. Maybe if we started asking for it and buying it, more native plant nurseries would carry it.  It's really quite beautiful. Mr. Matthews' kids have planted several of them around the school.

 

This Texas Lantana (Lantana urticoides) provides a nice large patch for the native bees.

Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata) blooms in February and March in Central Texas. Early spring native bees are attracted to the sweet blossums. This plant–one of several in the gardens at Small– already has fruit.

The kids are working on establishing another new garden this spring. Even young gardeners know to keep the tools neat and clean and to put them away when finished for the day.   

Creative minds keep trying new solutions! Here the kids are drilling indentations in stone for collecting water for the bees . . . and other wildlife.

An overview of the newest garden bed.

 

The kids also start some of their plants from seeds. Mr. Matthews–teacher, gardener, and inspiration–makes sure the kids learn how plants and insects interact with each other and the rest of their environment.  

David Matthews has set up a website describing the Small Middle School Gardens. To visit it, click on Small Middle School Gardens. David has posted some nice photos and good stories about the kids and the gardens on the website. Please take a look–and be sure to leave him a THANK-YOU comment for creating and inspiring the next generation of Bee Watchers.

Taking kids outdoors and letting them plant and tend gardens is SO far past what the duties of a middle school teacher are. And–get this– David is an English and Social Studies teacher. 

This is Hands-On Science in its best form. No pat answers to lab procedures outside. David is teaching kids to think about native plants, about how plants interact with their plant community, about the relationships between animals and plants in lawns, gardens, and artificial environments. He has taught them how to start a plant from a seed and how to sell that plant to raise money to fund their gardens. These kids do more than read about ecology–they do ecology.

Texas Bee Watchers extends a big Texas-sized THANK-YOU to David Matthews and the 1500 kids who have made Bee, Butterfly, and Wildlife Gardens at Small Middle School in Austin over the last 11 years. All together, your gardens at Small Middle School are designated the #3 Official Certified Bee-Friendly Garden in Texas. 
   
  
  
 
   

Visit the Bee Garden

This weekend, Waste Management is hosting an Open House at the Austin Community Landfill. This is a great opportunity to see the Bee Garden, tour a landfill (you'll be amazed!), tour the gas-to-energy plant at the Austin Community Landfill, get a tour of the Wildlife Area at the Landfill, and get a free hot dog and drink. You can download the flyer here: Flyer for Austin Community Landfill Open House The OPen House is May 15, Saturday, from 11 am to 1 pm. The Austin Community Landfill is located at 9900 Giles Lane.

Vernon Berger and I have been busy all month working at the Bee Garden at the Austin Community Landfill.  Bubba Smith, Waste Management District Manager, and Byron Turner, Austin Community Landfill Manager, have also helped by providing willing hands and mulch for paths.

Mulch pile delivered 

Looking at the recently added section of the garden with mulch paths in place. 

Last Thursday, a huge pile of mulch from the landfill was loaded up and dumped at our Bee Garden site. We leave the actual gardens free of mulch to allow the ground-nesting solitary bees to dig their nests, but we do put the mulch down on the paths.  With the help of Waste Management employees, we got all the paths mulched and a nice border mulched around the edges of the gardens. We also mulched between our fence demonstration area in preparation for planting in this area next fall.

We also rerouted the existing irrigation pipes to provide water throughout the Texas heat this summer. 

 The plants from last year thrived and put out many seeds–I think all of them sprouted–this spring. Vernon and I started weeding out a few of these sprouts this week to neaten up the garden a bit. Next year, we may have enough seedlings to give away some bee-friendly plants to landfill visitors! Vernon also managed to find a donated Bird/Bee Bath for the garden. In addition, Waste Management has added a Swift Tower and a Purple Martin House. It's getting to bee pretty cool out at the Landfill!

 Our Bee Garden at the Austin Community Landfill now covers about 1500 square feet. And its its blooming! Unfortunately, it has been really windy at the Bee Garden all month.  The native bees are not all that fond of windy days so the bee watching has not been easy.

But . . . as soon as we started spreading out mulch on the paths, a group of school kids showed up. Ashley and Linda led a great tour for the kids . . . which included walking around the Bee Garden on the newly-mulched paths! Whoopee!

 

Vernon, chief landscaper and bee watcher, welcoming native bees to the old section of the garden.

#1 The First Official Certified Bee-Friendly Garden in Texas

  

Terri Whaley from Bertram, Texas (Zip Code 78605) is not only a great gardener, she's fast.  Within 4 days of posting the 52 Bee Gardens: 52 Weeks Bee-Friendly Garden Challenge, Terri sent me these photos and a list of plants in her Bee-Friendly Garden. That made her the first to have her garden certified Bee-Friendly in Texas.

The 1st Official Certified Bee-Friendly Garden in Texas was initially planted in 2006. Terri says she's been interested in gardening for wildlife and pollinators for many years, so when she and her husband, Bob, moved into their house in Bertram, she knew she would plant a pollinator-friendly garden. She and Bob provided all the hard labor to plant the garden that extends around all sides of their home. Terri says the noise from all those buzzing bees is quite a thrill. I've posted photos of the Whaley's garden below.

I'm thrilled to have the Whaley garden be the initial Bee-Friendly garden in the 52 Bee Garden Challenge. It's a beautiful garden, especially for the native bees. It combines plants that are attractive to native bees, large patches of the same species of plant, and plants that provide blooms throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Terri does mulch areas of her garden but has left large areas of bare ground to provide nesting areas of ground-nesting solitary bees.

Congratulations to Terri and Bob Whaley, new Texas Bee Watchers, whose garden is the Texas Bee Watchers Official Certified Bee-Friendly Garden #1.

The list of Bee-friendly plants in Terri's garden is posted in the Navigation Bar above (click on 52 Gardens Plant List). This list will grow as I add plants from future Official Certified Bee-Friendly Gardens.

New gardens, established gardens, gardens that you've modified by adding plants or removing mulch are all eligible for the 52 Bee Garden Challenge. Size is not important as long as the other requirements are met. Your garden can cover an acre or be in pots on a patio in a high-rise condo. It can be your garden, your nature group's garden, or the space outside your place of business. Full requirements are listed in the Navigation Bar above (click on 52 Bee Gardens: 52 Weeks).

 

   Texas Betony in a nice large patch

Damianita patch

  A large patch of Fall Asters will be covered by native bees in the . . . fall.

 Rosemary provides an early bloom source for the native bees in the spring.

Solpugids?

Apparently a Solpugid is a type of spider, but I'm always going to think of doughnuts and ladybugs when I hear the term. Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker, former TAMU entomology students and the brains behind Solpugid Productions make some really fun bug videos. Take a look. I know you'll love 'em. 

They've also partnered up with the Department of Entomology at TAMU to produce a regular podcast and they have an interesting podcast on tracking native bees. Check it out.

Bugging Bees Podcast from Solpugid Productions

More Bee-Friendly Plant Lists

The Xerces Society recently added a Pollinator Conservation Resource Center to their website.  You can find lots of information on bee-friendly plants and constructing various nest boxes and sticks for native solitary bees. The PCRC does not have a lot of information about specific bees–although if you click on native bee biology, you will find basic information on native bees. 

The Xerces Society site has interesting information on various invertebrates. Take some time and tour around the site. You might even consider joining up to receive their magazine, Wings. It always has great photos and articles about some of the most interesting animals you may never have noticed.

New Bee Watchers

I had the great pleasure of talking about native Texas bees with the Highland Lakes Master Naturalists yesterday. What a wonderful group. Boy howdy, you should see all the projects these tireless folks work on. They build education centers, teach fishing clinics, do eagle counts (by boat across frozen water!), do wood duck projects, build bird houses, protect and find bats, lead hikes, work with young folks in many different programs, and share natural history information with everyone at the Burnet Lawn and Garden show every year. And that's just a bit of what they do.

I'm hoping a few of them will begin to enjoy a little bee-watching as well. They were a great group–even treating me to a great lunch at the house where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed. Great lunch in a great place, enthusiastic naturalists, and a little movie history–it just doesn't get much better than that.

A big THANK YOU from me to the Highland Lakes Master Naturalists.

 

Pollinator Curriculum for Teachers

I've had several requests for lessons on pollinators, pollination, and creating pollinator habitat. Nature's Partners: Pollinators, Plants, and You contains lessons for grades 3-6 that focus on ways that pollinators are important to people and ways that people can create and enhance pollinator habitat. The lessons focus on Bees and Butterflies. The lessons were developed by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.