Earth Day Goals:Bee-friendly, Bee-gentle, Bee-kind
April 21st 2009 22:33
I was reading somewhere about this lady who guerilla gardens her city parks with tomatoes. She's out there, sneaking around, checking her vegetable plants, watching for rabbits, watering them, babying them. That's a good idea, because it feeds herself and has an organic human purpose, like free for anybody, but this year, she got me to thinking, what can I do that interests me? I can go buy a tomato at the market, or, if I'm energy-concious and/or poor I could barter for it, like some creative people are doing but, I'm more interested in helping bees.
My goal this year is to buy cheap flowers, seeds and plants and to fling them surreptitously upon the earth to help the various Bee tribes. ( That's what they're called- Bee tribes.)
Because I don't have a much of a good garden area, I'm going to steal garden areas from other places that nobody cares if wildflowers grow on and are empty and plant bee friendly wildflowers on them.
On that note, in honor of Earth Day, I have been scavenging the web for more info on bees and their sad plight and this is a partial plant list of the most easily aquireable plants I have seen out in the real world:-
think dollar store, think grocery store, mega-store, or for more ambitious purposes, the hardware store, think 97 cents a seed packet, and wildflowers are planted:
yarrow
hyssop
dill
mint
heather
squash
goard
pumpkin
simple chrysanthimum
coneflower
carrot
cosmos
borage
foxglove
ice plant
crown vetch
rose of sharon
hollyhock
sunflower
apple
beebalm
catmint
pear cactus
oregano
evening primrose
basil
bachelor button(simple)
clover
blackberry
comfrey
lemon verbena
speedwell
zinnia
strawberries
fennel
(info from the agriculture research division of the USDA)
According to the research division of the USDA, bees are not as attracted to either commercially grown petunias or marigolds as they used to be because of genetic changes, nor pansies anymore, but true violets, remain an attractant.
Think about what pretty plants might be bee-friendly when you go to the greenhouse, and buy those.
Typing a search at the USDA under bees has a more extensive list, and more info on bees.
Some more free or nearly free ideas:
It could also be pretty neat to hit up friends and family for cuttings and seeds of their plants and spread those around, especially if you have alot of garden space. I also like church yard sales, where people are ditching their azalea plants, or parting their irises and clearance bulbs from Easter at the grocery store that can be stashed in the ground
in some places or held until spring and then planted.
Shake a bush when it's going to seed.
Save fruit pits, leave them on the counter for awhile cleaned and then plant them in your yard, or if you don't want that type of a commitment, plant them in a pot and see what happens.
On the humerous side:
Wouldn't it be funny to see giant pumpkin plants growing in an apartment complex's carefully cultivated landscapes, and then given to the neighbor kids to carve at Holloween?
One plant, one bee. that's my theory.
My goal this year is to buy cheap flowers, seeds and plants and to fling them surreptitously upon the earth to help the various Bee tribes. ( That's what they're called- Bee tribes.)
Because I don't have a much of a good garden area, I'm going to steal garden areas from other places that nobody cares if wildflowers grow on and are empty and plant bee friendly wildflowers on them.
On that note, in honor of Earth Day, I have been scavenging the web for more info on bees and their sad plight and this is a partial plant list of the most easily aquireable plants I have seen out in the real world:-
think dollar store, think grocery store, mega-store, or for more ambitious purposes, the hardware store, think 97 cents a seed packet, and wildflowers are planted:
yarrow
hyssop
dill
mint
heather
squash
goard
pumpkin
simple chrysanthimum
coneflower
carrot
cosmos
borage
foxglove
ice plant
crown vetch
rose of sharon
hollyhock
sunflower
apple
beebalm
catmint
pear cactus
oregano
evening primrose
basil
bachelor button(simple)
clover
blackberry
comfrey
lemon verbena
speedwell
zinnia
strawberries
fennel
(info from the agriculture research division of the USDA)
According to the research division of the USDA, bees are not as attracted to either commercially grown petunias or marigolds as they used to be because of genetic changes, nor pansies anymore, but true violets, remain an attractant.
Think about what pretty plants might be bee-friendly when you go to the greenhouse, and buy those.
Typing a search at the USDA under bees has a more extensive list, and more info on bees.
Some more free or nearly free ideas:
It could also be pretty neat to hit up friends and family for cuttings and seeds of their plants and spread those around, especially if you have alot of garden space. I also like church yard sales, where people are ditching their azalea plants, or parting their irises and clearance bulbs from Easter at the grocery store that can be stashed in the ground
in some places or held until spring and then planted.
Shake a bush when it's going to seed.
Save fruit pits, leave them on the counter for awhile cleaned and then plant them in your yard, or if you don't want that type of a commitment, plant them in a pot and see what happens.
On the humerous side:
Wouldn't it be funny to see giant pumpkin plants growing in an apartment complex's carefully cultivated landscapes, and then given to the neighbor kids to carve at Holloween?
One plant, one bee. that's my theory.
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Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
And it's very sweet.
Personally, I'm allergic to bees (which is sad, because I love wisteria, but I can't grow it all over my fence because bees CAN KILL ME).
However, I'm with you on the Planting Flowers etc front. There is so much lawn in the world (See War On Lawn: http://waronlawn.blogspot.com/ ) that is unnecessary. If you or your readers have a front lawn, that is another good place to start.
A balcony also works (See Totally Inept Balcony Gardener: Really Long Link )
Now that I've scattered the seeds of two of my favourite gardening blogs, it's time to go water my own garden before it gets too hot...