Trees
Your Favorite Native Plants: The Bee-licious Sourwood Tree
Our fourth winning entry to the “What’s Your Favorite Native Plant?” contest comes from Missy Isaacs: My favorite native plant is: “ Sourwood tree. Beautiful fall color, blooms in the summer, my honeybees love the pollen, and the blooms remind me of my handicapped cousin’s hands, she has the most delicate and graceful hands but because of her cp, they…
Read MoreHelping Bees in Crisis: 7 Steps to Creating a Bee-Friendly Landscape
The European Honey Bee and our 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S. have suffered dramatic losses to their populations due to a combination of many factors. Since bees pollinate a significant portion of our food crops, this is a problem that affects all of us. Without bee pollination services, many of our common fruits, nuts and vegetables would…
Read MoreSpring Planting With Environmental Impact!
Still wondering what to plant this spring? How about boosting the ecosystem in your yard with some native woody plants. Replace invasive, exotic plants in your yard with some regionally native plants. Check out the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower plant database to see if the plants suggested below are native to your area. Give me a shout if you need some…
Read MorePlant It and They Will Come: The EcoBeneficial Bird Garden
Approximately two-thirds of the bird species found in the U.S. are migrating birds. Some migrants travel great distances while others don’t go far at all. The farthest travelers are the neo-tropical migrants which breed in the U.S. in the warmer seasons and then travel to Mexico, Canada , South America, or the Caribbean to overwinter. When they return in the…
Read MoreHigh-Value Pollen Sources for Honey Bees: Get Planting!
For honey bees, pollen is essential for brood-rearing, and they need a lot of it: an average colony collects 50 to 125 pounds per year. Pollen is honey bees’ main source of protein, lipids, vitamins and minerals. They need pollen with 20% protein; 10 of the amino acids in pollen protein are essential to honey bee development. Not all plants…
Read MoreCritical Early Trees and Shrubs for Bees
In very the early spring, trees and shrubs with early blooms are critical for honey bees and our native bees. Some provide both nectar and pollen, and some only offer pollen. As the growing season progresses, more resources become available to bees, but you can help them out in early spring by planting some early blooming native trees and shrubs. …
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