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Alabama Gardening

Just the Bee's Knees

19 years ago

I worry about too much stuff I can't control--like the decline of the honey bee, or bees in general. I have plans to put a couple of hives in my yard and I even took the course offered this year at the BBG but just a little too busy to do it right now. Next Year for sure. Well, yesterday was absolutely beautiful in Southern Shelby County and for whatever reason, the bees seem plentiful!! The hollies are in full bloom and smell wonderful and were just covered up with bees that I think were honey bees. My blueberry bushes were getting worked over well by a few of the same bees, another species that was darker in color which I think is the Southeastern Blueberry bee and an amazing number of big 'ol fat Bumble Bees. I even think I saw a queen Bumble Bee--or at least the biggest one I've ever seen at about 2 inches long! I'm still going to do honey bees next year, but I am very thankful that in one corner of my world, the bees are doing OK.....Mike in Shelby Cty.

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Comments (6)

ourhighlandhome
19 years ago
Mike,

Yes, it's hard to beat the fragrance of hollies in bloom. I liken it to the clean, pleasing fragrance of a mild deodorant soap.

If the presence of honey bees swarming the hollies in my yard provides a measure of their overall health, maybe they're on the comeback.

Nelson
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debbido
19 years ago
My holly is slap covered up. You can hear them buzzing from about 10 feet away. I did get a laugh when the neighborhood cat climbed up in it to investigate. She came out REAL quick.

My concern lies with the decline in birds. My children and I have bought some books on southeastern birds and are going to try our hand at bird watching.

I think your idea for the bees is wonderful. You providing them with the plants is also wonderful.

Good luck in your endeavors,
Deb
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***, I saw that he had gotten off the tractor and was motioning at something in the fencerow. As I pulled up I saw a dark blob in a bush and somehow I just knew it had to be more bees. Now he was finally excited. He'd never seen a swarm before and I still tried telling him that this little pile of several hundred bees was nothing at all like the previous *** Cool! We had a swarm just hanging--about the size of a basketball--in an evergreen in the front yard of a farmhouse in Central Iowa. It was fascinating and slightly nauseating, at the same time...if you catch my drift. I had two small children and I was afraid they'd get out of the house and head toward the noise. I believe bees "swarm" either when they find their hive uninhabitable (for whatever reason) or because, as you said, they have an extra Queen and need to separating the fighting aristocracy. :-)
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arab_gal
19 years ago
I read "The Secret Life of Bees" sometime back, and noticed that many of the quotes at the beginning of each chapter came from a book called "The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men." I picked it up at the bookstore and read it. It's nonfiction and very interesting. I would recommend it as a great summertime book.
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VickiBrc
19 years ago
You can all come and get the Bee's in my yard, I have a Bee phobia and can hardly go outside right now.Moved here from MN and I have never seen such big Bee's in my life. The Wasp's are the worst for me, do they really have a use ?

As for Bird's I LOVE to bird watch here, there are many more types than in MN, I have a pair of Bluebirds nesting in their house right next to the feeder also have a Rufous-Sided Towhee. I have found that the Roger tory Peterson's book is good "A Field Guide To The BIRDS East Of The Rockies. I bought supplies to build a Bluebird house but have not been brave enough to try it yet : )))))
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jeff_al
19 years ago
after several years of chasing a swarm away from my house, they have taken up residence in an old juniperus virginiana in the front woods. there is a tree on the fence line with a hole, probably about 4"x2" and 6' off the ground, that seems to be just made for them. it is interesting to watch them travelling to and from the hive to work the different flowers this time of year.
i planted sourwood trees not far from their new hive. alas, i will never "bee" able to get to the honey through that small entrance! *lol*
mike,
i think the outlook for the european honeybee is positive.
seems like the latest news is that they have been "taught" by some relatives imported from europe to deal with the mite infestations that have decimated the local populations.
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mimidi
19 years ago
Ya'll are aware that there is a move to change the state insect for the Monarch butterfly to the Honey Bee aren't you? I heard that on the radio a week or so ago.

My bees are just having the bestest time. They have even been at my camellias.
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