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It's Raining Rain Lilies
It's raining rain lilies in the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden of the UC Davis Arboretum.
The Argentine Rain Lily (Zephyranthes candida), also known as the White Rain Lily, White Fairy Lily and White Zephyr Lily, is drawing a few honey bees, but the bees like the lavender and sage best.
The white Zeph is one of the "Arboretum All-Stars," a list of 100 plants that thrive in the Central Valley and stay attractive most of the year. Most of the All-Stars are also drought tolerant, require little maintenance, and are relatively pest free, Arboretum officials say. A few--about 15--are California natives.
You can find the All-Stars (and other plants) at the Arboretum's periodic plant sales; the next sales are Oct. 3 and Oct. 17.
"Bee there" for bee-friendly plants and other selections.
At the last sale, we picked up some sage and a carnivorous plant.
To be honest, we were happy the carnivorous plant died. It ate one of our honey bees.
The UC Davis Arboretum has been working to develop a list of plants that are specifically chosen for the Central Valley. This list, called the “Arboretum All-Stars,” has been developed over many years using the Arboretum and other research sites to test and trial plant species. The official “roll out” of the program is planned for spring 2009, but the plant species list and other information is available now at http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu. In addition to creating the list, the program plans to encourage wholesale nurseries to grow these plants in large enough quantity to supply an interested public, and to educate the public to look and ask for these species.
All of the 100 plants on the list had to meet the following criteria: they must be attractive most of the year, thrive in Central Valley conditions, and have been tested at the UC Davis Arboretum. Many of them are also drought tolerant, require little maintenance and can reduce use of pesticides by being relatively pest-free and by attracting beneficial wildlife that feed on pests before they become a problem. About 15 of the species are California native plants.
Honey Bee in Rain Lily
Pollen Galore
Two Nectar Robbers
You've probably seen carpenter bees engage in the practice known as "nectar robbing."
Due to their large size, they cannot enter tubelike blossoms such as salvia (sage), so they slit the base of the corolla. They rob the nectar without pollinating the flower.
But have you ever seen a honey bee come along and enter the very spot of a corolla that a carpenter bee has pierced?
We saw a honey bee do just that at the UC Davis Arboretum last weekend.
Maybe this UC Davis bee was "smarter" than the average bee?
Carpenter Bee Robbing Nectar
Honey Bee Robbing Nectar
Gaura! Gaura! Gaura!
Pollen-packing honey bees dangling from gaura (Gaura linheimeri) are a joy to photograph.
Gaura, native to Louisiana, Texas and Mexico, is a long-stemmed plant with a burst of pinkish-white petals that resemble whirling butterflies.
A member of the Onagraceae family (think primroses, fireweed and fuchsias), it's a perennial that needs little care.
Gaura! Gaura! Gaura!
Honey Bee on Gaura
Sipping Away
Sharing a Sunflower
If you're in the right spot at the same time, you may get a double bonus: a non-native bee and a native bee on a native plant.
We took this photo in Healdsburg last week of a non-native bee (the common European or Western honey bee, Apis mellifera) and a native sweat bee (Halictus ligatus) sharing a plant native to the Americas: the sunflower.
A golden moment.
Two on a Sunflower
Close-Up
Bee Well
What's causing colony collapse disorder (CCD)?
Are we any closer to determining the cause?
CCD, the mysterious malady characterized by bees abandoning the hive, leaving behind the brood and food storage, continues to be of great concern--and rightfully so.
The headlines today read:
- Scientists discover virus that could explain drop in bee population--Science News, Timesonline
- DNA clue to honey bee deaths--BBC
A noted expert on honey bees, Mussen is frequently asked "The CCD Question."
What does he think is causing CCD?
"As the pieces are coming together, I think that a still undetermined virus is causing the problem," Mussen says. "The malady appears to be 'contagious' and 'drying' the combs seems to reduce or eliminate it."
"Our bees need to be in top physiological condition. I believe that malnutrition puts a physiological stress on the bees, especially the immune and chemical detoxification systems. Then diseases and exposures to chemicals become very significant."
Beekeepers who do a lot of supplementary feeding, he says, see fewer problems.
So, if you're a beekeeper, place your hives in locations with an abundance of high quality pollens and nectar.
And don't ignore those combs.
"If a beekeeper has them on hand, the bees most likely would be better off on newer, less contaminated (with mite-killing compounds) combs," Mussen says.
How can we help? We can plant trees, ornamentals, and flowers that provide food for the bees. "It's especially important to provide nectar and pollens at the end of the season--late summer and fall," he says. "That's when resources tend to become scarce."
What else can we do? Stop using pesticides on plants that bees visit. "The most suspect group of pesticides at this time are the neonicotinoid insecticides that move systemically in the plants," Mussen says. "They get into the nectar and pollen. However, the fungicides, thought by many to be benign to honey bees, are pretty common contaminants and may be causing more problems than we think."
Meanwhile, the search for the cause(s) of CCD continues.
Bee well.
Honey Bee
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