Category Archives: Honey Plants
Rhodo Poison?
The rhododendron is a beautiful plant, but it’s rumoured to intentionally maim and kill honey bees. My mother had a favourite rhododendron bush in the yard by our house in the Appalachian foothills. Now that I am older and presumably … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination
Tagged Appalachian, azalea, bees in warfare, John Lovell, poisoned bees, poisonous honey, rhododendrons
3 Comments
Location, Location, Vocation
My last two blog posts (Alberta is Beekeeping and Canada’s Hive Beetles) were unseemly braggadocious pitches. I wrote about how great beekeeping is on Canada’s western prairies. Alberta, Canada, has not had CCD, but instead has increasing numbers of kept … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Honey, Honey Plants
Tagged Alberta, Bad Beekeeping, bee locations
5 Comments
Pollinator Friendly Gardening
Pollinator Friendly Gardening: Gardening for Bees, Butterflies, and Other Pollinators, by Rhonda Fleming Hayes, is a new book for the gardener who wants to help pollinators. With all the news about loss of habitat, warming climate, and pesticides, most wild … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged gardening, pollinators
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Almonds, Water, and Bees
February is almond pollination month in California. A couple of nights ago, the CBC aired a story about almonds, water, and bees. They try to cover everyone involved – the consumer who loves the heart-friendly food, the almond grower who … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination
Tagged almond pollination, almonds, California, migratory beekeeping
2 Comments
Ozone and the Bees
Sitting in traffic, smelling everyone else’s exhaust (you know yours doesn’t stink), you begin to worry about the bees out there. They smell the fumes, too. But if you look closely, you won’t see them gasping or coughing. That’s only … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants
Tagged Brassica nigra, mustard seed, Ozone, pollution
3 Comments
Bees on a Caffeine Buzz
Video: Dr Couvillon shows that caffeine tricks honeybees into working harder. It seems bees may suffer from the same drowsy morning moods and weary fatigued afternoons as their human cousins. And it may be similarly cured with a … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination
Tagged bee communication, bee foraging, caffeine, coffee
1 Comment
Thistle Bumblebees
Although I have mentioned many times that honey bees are not going extinct (there are actually more kept hives of honey bees today than 10 years ago), I am concerned about wild and native species of bees. Loss of habitat, … Continue reading
Honey Bee Highways
Norway – the 2nd most liveable country in the world* – has yet another feather in its woolly cap. Or super on its hive, if you will. The Norwegians have a Honey Bee Highway. That’s a trail of flower pots … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Friends, Honey Plants, Humour, Save the Bees
Tagged Earl Emde, Norway, Oslo, planting for bees, Polli the Pollinator
2 Comments
Dandy Season
A few weeks ago, I wrote that spring had arrived and pollen (plus a little nectar) was coming into the hives – mostly from willow and crocus. I also wrote that the main spring flow here in western Canada (along … Continue reading
May Flowers and May Frosts
My kids picked these flowers as a Mother’s Day gift for my wife. All the blossoms were collected from the yard around our house. Nice bouquet, eh? There is not much in the vase that a honey bee would find … Continue reading
