Then I encourage you.
Our native pollinators are disappearing as well, a story that is not
geting as much play.
Remember the days when the crabapples and such purely buzzed with
bees? Now you see the odd bumblebee, little else.
One way to help out is to plant good bee plants; they thrive on privet
and holly, fruit trees, tulip poplar, dandelions (!), clovers,
brambles such as blackberry, as well as many common annual and
perrenial plants and herbs (my "Blue Bedder" agastache, Mexican sage
and borage are covered each year).
Here's a link to planted a "bee garden."
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/na/bgardn.html
Other tips to be a friend to bees.... avoid Sevin dust, as pollinators
think it's pollen and bring it back to the nest, wiping out the
colony... apply the mildest insectidide possible, long after dusk, of
possible,,, put water out for the bees and birds...
If interested in bees, google "top bar hive."
Very cute, low-tech way of keeping bees. We have four TBH in our
neighborhood. Seems to be growing interest in them.
For a good FAQ, check out
http://www.backyardhive.com for a start.
There is also an excellent yahoobroup called Organicbeekeepers that is
very helpful and is raising bees without any treatments.
If you want to explore further, there is a Wake county beekeeping club
that loves to help beginners get started.
The secretary's name/email is Michelle, , tell her
Jan in Southern Pines sent you.
Beekeeping is not hard, but it IS adictive.
Have fun!
Jan L
Cottage Garden Farm
S. Pines
check out On May 31, 3:11 pm, "me" wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com... Ditto on the whitefly.
Try an insecticidal soap, and after dusk so as not to damage any
late-
foraging bees.
(Bees need all the friends they can get these days).
Indeed. I have been exploring the possibility of putting some hives on
my property just to let the colonies thrive (I don't need the honey).
I have not had anyone definitely tell me that this is a good thing
though.
We have no shortage of carpenter bees, which I dispatch with a squash
racquet 