Bee City, U.S.A.

Bees, just like people, love to take it easy on a hot summer day.

Night blooming Angel’s Trumpet shrubs attract honey bees from their nearby hive

Here are five ways to be pollinator friendly.  1- have a variety of blooms in your garden: ones that provide nectar and pollen sources, including native trees and perennial flowers.  2- provide water sources: bird baths or puddling areas.  3- provide shelter or nesting  areas:  leave some dead wood, rock piles, or stone walls.  4- protect pollinator habitats: eliminating use of invasive plants and pesticides or switch to less toxic oils and soaps.  5-become a beekeeper or support citizens becoming beekeepers. In 2009 Asheville passed a beekeeping ordinance. Permits are $25 and available through the Animal Services Supervisor.   All of these steps are good for all wildlife, good for the environment, and great for a city as green and beautiful as ours. 

It has been a rather hot and sticky summer.   Many of my bees have been hanging out on the front of their hives bearding and washboarding.  Bearding  is nothing more than a clump of bees just resting together, hanging out on their front porch. The same sort of thing we Southerners do on a hot lazy day, relaxing in the shade hoping for a cool breeze.   Washboarding  is when a group of bees gather on the front of the hive, spaced apart from one another, moving and rocking back and forth in a rhythmic manner.   No one knows exactly what this washboarding behavior is all about.  Are they cleaning the front of the hive?  I’m not sure but maybe they are eating or collecting stray pieces of pollen.  Are they sending out some sort of signal or message? Well, not to field bees, who continue to come and go from the hive.  The ages of washboarding bees may give us a clue. They are between 13-25 days old.  This activity is  usually during day hours when they should be busy at a specific job.  In my backyard apiary, this activity is most noticeable in the heat of the summer after the sourwood honey flow but before the fall honey flow.  My theory is that these extra young bees were raised in hopes of a long summer honey flow, but that did not happen.  As they reach maturity something tells them that there is not much of a honey flow, so be patient and wait, soon you will be needed.  Meanwhile, they hang around practicing  the motions of a forager while conserving their energy and saving their wings so they will become the first of the fall foragers.  

My honey bees love to work our night blooming Angel’s Trumpet shrubs that are about 30 feet from their hives.  These large fragrant blooms open around sunset, while there is still enough light for the bees to make their way back to the hive.  As the buds begin to unfurl their petals, the bees flit from one bud to the other trying to be the first into a flower.