With apologies to Judy Garland, I think the words should be: The sun is shinin’, c’mon, bee happy… You better chase all your cares away. Sing hallelujah, c’mon, bee happy… These bees certainly are. Bee happy, friends!
Wordless Wednesday: Bee happy
Adventures in urban wild bee “keeping”
A screw-up with iPhoto deleted my 2013 “Scott Shot” of urban bee guru Scott MacIvor, so I’ll have to make do with 2012. With some regret, last month I waved bye-bye to my last urban wild bee nesting box – or, the last in the three-year study by ecologist and PhD candidate Scott MacIvor. Read […]
An unexpected home visit from a bee mimic
This hoverfly might be narcissus bulb fly. Boo hoo. It sure looked like some kind of red-headed bee to me when I found it sitting on a Pelargonium leaf in my west-facing window. Out came a drinking glass and piece of card to capture it while I researched: What the heck is it? Then I […]
Faves: Helenium autumnale
Helenium autumnale – that’s Helen’s flower, to you. Not sneezeweed. Geez. Enough about me. Let’s talk about Helenium. I don’t know what variety this is (perhaps its short stature points to ‘Ruby Dwarf’ aka ‘Rubinzwerg’), but I wish it were growing in my garden. Despite what they say about the need for full sun and moist soil, […]
Recycle an old hose into a bee hotel
A great idea for a DIY bee hotel, from St Fagans National History Museum in Wales Remember that hose the car ran over – and sprang a leak? It could have new life as a home for solitary bees. Look at the example above from St Fagans, the National History Museum in South Wales. St […]
Bee, my love, for Earth Day 2011
Study nesting box for wild solitary bees Something special arrived in our back yard on Earth Day 2011: a nesting box for wild cavity-nesting solitary bees such as mason (Osmia) and leaf-cutter bees (Megachile). It’s one of 220 scattered in private and public spaces, including green roofs, around the city, as part of a […]
A field to have a field day in
Right next to our community garden is a field of white asters. Wow, I thought, the bees must be having a field day. Then I noticed. They were! This one makes me think of a bee angel. Hard at work, busy doing all the things that bees do. Hanging around, packing in the nectar and […]
Why, but why, do they call it Obedient Plant?
Despite evidence to the contrary, this photograph does not illustrate why they call it “o-bee-dient” plant. Though the flower does seem to exert a siren call: Oh, bee… Oh, bee-eee…? This is Physostegia virginiana, and it’s called Obedient Plant for the way you can bend the individual florets to your will, making them go thisaway […]
How Bees Go At It: A Closeup View
Helen insists on saying, “Lo and bee-hold!” I however, would not stoop so low. Sarah here. I’ve been talking this morning to Damian Grounds of HelpSaveBees about how much we like seeing the bees diving into our funnel-shaped flowers. By coinky-dink, Helen was at that moment in the process of photographing bumblebums in a nearby […]
Garden things to be thankful for
On a day when I accomplished scarcely more than half a teaspoon of deadheading, here are things to be happy about: • A cup of tea (Yorkshire red label) in the bee mug • Very hot tea with just the right amount of milk • Very hot tea with just the right amount of milk, […]
Doors Open: Toronto Beekeepers’ Co-op at the Don Valley Brickworks
I dropped into the Don Valley Brickworks for Doors Open this week and met with a group of bee-keepers who were there with their bee hive display — It’s an odd feeling to be standing near several people wearing blinding white bee-keeper outfits! You certainly can’t miss them in a crowd. They showed a 2 […]