Posts Tagged: sustainable gardening

Learning About the Pollinators

If you want to learn more about pollinators and sustainable gardening, then you should circle March 15 on your calendar and register for the "Pollinator Gardening Workshop, Your Sustainable Backyard."

The event, hosted by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCHU), based at UC Davis, will take place at Giedt Hall, UC Davis campus, with a side trip to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Garden, just west of the campus, on Bee Biology Road.

Registration is underway at on the CCHU website. 

CCHU program manager Anne Schellman says that this will be an informative workshop where participants will learn:

• How to identify common bee pollinators
• How to make a landscape pollinator-friendly
• Which plants pollinators prefer
• The latest research about honey bee health and pollinator habitat
• How UC Davis helps honey bees at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Garden

Honey bee and native pollinator specialists with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will be among the speakers. 

Here's the agenda:

7:30
Check-in
Please pick up materials and enjoy coffee and a light breakfast

7:50
Welcome
Dave Fujino, director of the California Center for Urban Horticulture, UC Davis
Edwin Lewis, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

8 to 8:40
The Buzz about Bees: Attracting and Observing Bees in Your Garden
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

8:40-9:20
Habitat Enhancements to Support Bees: Agriculture to Urban Research
Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, associate professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

9:20-10
Honey Bee Health: Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

10-10:20
Break

10:20-11
Plants for Pollinators: Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, UC Davis

11-11:30
Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven Garden Update: What's New in the Garden?
Christine Casey, manager of Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

11:30 Pick up box lunch

11:30-2
Open house at Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road (It's located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility)
Questions and answers with Robbin Thorp and Christine Casey

1 to 2
Special plant sale for Pollinator Workshop attendees
Arboretum Teaching Nursery, Garrod Drive

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the pollinators we see in our garden, ranging from honey bees and bumble bees to long-horned bees and metallic green sweat bees--and what to plant to attract them. Three of the speakers (Eric Mussen, Neal Williams and Robbin Thorp) were members of the "UC Davis Bee Team" that won the outstanding team award last year from the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America. The other team members were assistant professor Brian Johnson and professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

See website for registration and more information, or contact Anne Schellman at aschellman@ucdavis.edu. 

Honey bee foraging on flowering quince. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee foraging on flowering quince. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)