Our Solar Powered Friends

A bumble bee on the herb Nepeta (also known as catmint)

The garden has brought me so much joy this past month.  After an incredibly long and cold winter, I have been soaking up the sweet smells of flowers and the long hours of daylight.  We are still in an odd weather pattern and haven't quite gotten to our normal summer drought, but I'm glad to have shed some of my thinsulate and fleece layers!  And I am thrilled to once again share my garden work with bees.

Our climate is home to the sweetest, most docile little bumble bees.  Right now they are busy working away, gathering pollen and nectar.  Sometimes I see them resting on a branch or flower, no doubt taking a much needed break to recharge.  Occasionally, they even land on my arm to rest!

A bee waiting for the sun to warm her for flying.

But my joy in working with them is coupled with concern.  We, and by we I mean our planet, are facing a serious shortage of bees.  The honey bee population has been in decline; and in fact, if it weren't for bee keepers, there would most likely be no honey bees left.  The wild honey bee has all but disappeared.  Many factors are playing into the collapse of honey bee hives, but no one really knows the exact cause.  The list of possible contributing factors includes the bee mite, pollution and pesticide use, climate change, and development.  It's not known which of these is the most serious threat, or if it is a combination of all of them.

I haven't seen any honey bees in my garden for years.  A friend of mine who is a beekeeper explained that the reason is because there are no bee keepers near my garden.  So unless I, or one of my neighbors decides to keep bees, we are out of luck.  I am thankful for the other varieties of bees who pollinate for me, but none of them are nearly as efficient as the honey bee.

This year it became very apparent to me just how important bees are for food production.  I have two asian pear trees which normally have high fruit yields.  But this year we had an exceptionally cold spring--too cold for our solar powered bee friends.  I hovered around my asian pear trees every day during blossom time, listening for the sounds of flying insects.  It was dead silent.  One particularly nice day I went up hoping it was warm enough for the bees to move, but nothing.  Not one flying, pollinating creature was able to work in the cold temperatures.  And as spring moved along and the blossoms faded and fell, it was quickly apparent that I would have no asian pears this year.  Thankfully, it warmed in time for a few apples to set.  But the bee problem translates into a food problem very quickly.

A bumble bee deep inside a rhododendron flower

I am once again thankful for the hard working farmers who manage to produce food in spite of weather and insect problems.  And I'm grateful for scientists who are researching and trying to find solutions to our honey bee problem.  You can join in as a "citizen scientist" with the The Great Sunflower Project if you are interested in helping find solutions.  Check out their website as it has great information on bees and how you can help.  Tomorrow, July 16th, is their Great Bee Count.  They are asking for gardeners around the country to spend a small amount of time in their garden, counting bees.  Sounds like a good time to enjoy a cup of tea, and a perfect project for a possibly bored school child!  I'd love to hear from anyone who takes part in this project.