In article , () wrote:

In article ,
dps wrote:

One other note: I'm not a beekeeper, but it's my understanding
that the bees ignore stuff within about 50 feet of the hive,
since that's their dumping area. So there's no special need for
specific replacement plants in that area.

I doubt that is true since bees are quite happy to take sugar
water place that close to their hives.

Bees have a flight language to communicate to other bees where they found
good stuff. According to The Dance Language & Orientation of Bees, by Karl
von Frisch, the figure eight flight pattern means "close to the hive," &
repeating the figure eight several times in succession means "Oh my god
LOTS of nectar close to the hive."

Also, while honeybees hunt a great distance, most of our gardens are
pollinated by smaller sorts of bees which have surprisingly finite hunting
areas, often not even going as far as the other side of the garden!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Fascinating. I never knew von Frisch's work was thought to be merely
hypothetical.

Yep - nice fat controversy there. There are, of course, folks that
think Dr. Wenner's hypotheses are not all that and the proverbial bag of
chips either.

Me, I think they are both interesting reads, but I figure I'll leave
understanding the dance up to the professionals - the bees.

Keith

dps wrote in message ...
One other note: I'm not a beekeeper, but it's my understanding that the
bees ignore stuff within about 50 feet of the hive, since that's their
dumping area. So there's no special need for specific replacement plants
in that area.

Check with your beekeeper for the accuracy of that statement.

Thanks for the tip in that direction, as all the garlic mustard that I
pulled, was downslope and within 30 feet of his hives. Perhaps he was
fearing a loss of food source in early spring, as I know he was
putting those upside down pails of sucrose solution on top of the
hives, for some time. Also he would comment on the cold spring here in
Milwaukee.
None the less, the beekeeper knows a fellow beekeeper who has an
established feed garden next to his hives, and he thought it was a
cool, if somewhat limited, idea. Actually, he figured he couldn't feed
many bees off the area I cleared.
At one point I specifically asked him about the use of Round Up over
in the Nature Preserve, from the point of view of the bees. Would
Round Up harm the bees if used, say, a mile away? His response was
that whereas he rents the land, other hobbyist beekeepers who do own
their own land will spray the entire area around the hive just to keep
it clear.(Therefore, my proposed pesticide use wouldn't hurt the
bees.) Clearing the immediate area of vegetation seems counter to
growing a bee food garden in the close in zone, where I was.
I'll let you know what he says. As for my own ideas for that slope, I
am thinking stablization. Virginia creeper & grapevines are all over
down there, it should fill in.
Molly Zone 5a
Milwaukee