Texas Bee Watchers

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.

Have Pollinators Always Had a Hard Time?

Peter G. Keven of The University of Guelph in Canada is a real native bee expert. I found this video during which he explains a bit about the history of native bees as pollinators of crops we like to eat. He talks about figs, dates, blueberries, alfalfa, and the bees that pollinate them (or not!) and the troubles they have faced over the years. He also discusses a bit about the role pesticides, habitat destruction, diseases, and parasites play in the ability of bees to provide their pollination services. The economic impact of these various factors will make you see these native bees in a whole new light. 

This is not a video about CCD and honeybees.

The talk was given at a conference in Canada a year or so ago, lasts only about 38 minutes, and is an excellent opportunity for Bee Watchers to learn from one of the few Native Bee Experts in the world. So find a cool beverage, find a shady place outside, fire up the wi-fi, and enjoy learning a bit more about native bees. 

You gotta love the wealth of information we now have easily available. When you finish the video, just be sure to set that cool drink down and go out in the sun, find some blooming plants, and appreciate those native bees.

Here's a separate link for the slideshow (On Pollinators and Their Conservation) that Dr. Keven uses in the video, in case you want to see the slides a bit better.