Unless you have your head in the sand, you know that bees are in serious trouble. But it's one thing to read about it and another to experience it first hand.
Last year I named my side yard the Abeille Allée, or bee lane (you can read about it here), due to the incredible number of bees on the plants in that area of my garden. If you stood still, you could see motion everywhere among the flowers. The bees buzzed my head constantly when I was weeding. There was always activity.
 |
| No bees on the bee balm |
This year, the absence of activity is startling. At first, I thought that maybe the long winter and delayed spring meant they were just hiding out until it got warmer. But as the days grew longer and hotter there was barely any bee activity at all in the allée. Their usual favorites - the nepeta, the coreopsis, and particularly the St. John's Wort - were devoid of activity.
 |
| No bees on the Nepeta 'Walker's Low' |
In fact, it's only been in the last day or two that they've shown up to the St. John's Wort. Happily, that particular bush is now buzzing (sorry!) with activity.
 |
| They've arrived!! |
Still, the St. John's Wort has already hit its peak and is starting to lose its flowers so the timing of their arrival is troublesome, considering they've been all over that bush for years as soon as it blooms. And try as I might, I can't find bees on any other plant in the allée.
 |
| No bees here either |
I'm not sure what to do from here. This is a problem much, much larger than me. I can do my part, but when my neighbors use Round-Up regularly, am I making much of a difference by not using pesticides and trying to use organic seeds?
What's the bee situation like in your garden?
I'm happy to see more bees in my front yard this year. Luckily we have a nearby neighbor who has had a bee-keep for the last few years. I hope they make their way to the back yard once the veggies start blooming! I did a little hand pollinating last year, but hopefully I won't need to this year.
ReplyDeleteThat's great news for you and what a great neighbor. I'm going to look up hand pollinating and see if it's something I ought to be doing.
DeleteMy garden is full of bees but that's partly due to the fact that there are several hives nearby. Round-Up is an herbicide and while it robs pollinators of their food sources, it doesn't kill them. By keeping your garden pesticide-free, you are providing a healthy food source that will help the bees recover. Just read the labels of every product you buy. Even Neem oil, which is organic, is a potent pesticide that will kill bees. Anything from Bayer or Ortho contains neonic pesticides, which are lethal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight. I had one misstep and used a Bayer product last year when I was fighting with my viburnum, but other than that have been free of any products for years. It seems like I need to convince one of my neighbors to start keeping bees to help me out :)
DeleteConsider putting out a mason bee house. They are stingless native bees that are actually more effective pollinators than bees. You can buy the cocoons or just put out a nesting site for them to occupy.
DeleteI noticed the same thing, but attributed it to the cold winter. A lot of the spring plants bloomed much later than they usually do, so I figured that was part of it. Bee activity seems to have picked up a bit, but it definitely seems less to me than in years past.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just me then. Here's hoping they recover.
DeleteSo last year there was a dramatic decline in the number of bees. There were some, but it was a small fraction of what had been normal up until then. It's a little better this year, but still less than what we have considered normal.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about this a lot (particularly on garden blogs). I was naively and selfishly hoping that I wouldn't notice much of a difference here.
DeleteI saw bees in the Spring but they are usually still here in the Summer. Now I don't see them quite as much. Not sure why. I have a lot of wasps though. Your bee balm is beautiful. Every time I try to grow it here (I'm in Pasadena, California) something eats it! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that it's noticeable everywhere. What eats your bee balm? That stinks - it's such a lovely plant :)
DeleteSo far I'm having a banner year for bees. It's really troubling to hear that your numbers are so low. Has it picked up at all in the last few weeks?
ReplyDelete