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Honey Bee Suite is dedicated to honey bees, beekeeping, wild bees, other pollinators, and pollination ecology. It is designed to be informative and fun, but also to remind readers that pollinators throughout the world are endangered. Although they may seem small and insignificant, pollinators are vital to anyone who eats.

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May 2012
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Plants that Attract Pollinators

Popular Garden Plants:

Basil (Ocimum)
Bee balm (Monardia)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Borage (Borago)
Caltrop (Kallstroemia)
Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster)
English Lavendar (Lavandula)
Escallonia (Escallonia)
Globe thistle (Echinops)
Hyssop (Hyssopus)
Licorice Mint (Agastache)
Marjoram (Origanum)
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)
Milkweed (Asclepias)
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus)
Russian Sage (Perovskia)
Sage (Salvia)
Wallflower (Erysimum)
Wild lilac (Ceanothus)
Zinnia (Zinnia)

Northwest Native Plants:

Aster (Aster)
California poppy (Eschscholzia)
Currant (Ribes)
Elder (Sambucus)
Fireweed (Epilobium)
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium)
Larkspur (Delphinium)
Lupine (Lupinus)
Madrone (Arbutus)
Mint (Mentha)
Oregon grape (Berberis)
Penstemon (Penstemon)
Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron)
Saskatoon (Amalanchier)
Scorpion-weed (Phacelia)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)
Stonecrop (Sedum)
Sunflower (Helianthus)
Wild buckwheat (Eriogonum)
Willow (Salix)
Yarrow (Achillea)

Bees vs. mouse: a skeleton tells the story

I love these photos. Yesterday my top-bar hive was bursting at the seams. My husband kept urging me to check it for swarm cells and I kept putting it off. But finally, I dug through an egregious number of bees only to find a skeleton!

It is so cool. It was lying on the [...]

Waiting for honey bee drones

It’s been hard to write about beekeeping of late because I’ve been so busy beekeeping. The mating nuc is ready, the swarm traps are hung, the bait hive is assembled, and the honey supers are ready to install. It was a lot of work. But part of the extra work was due to successful [...]

First signs of spring

It was just warm enough for spring to show itself today.  Between rain showers, I spent a few minutes wandering around and looking for reassurance that it really is coming.

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First snow drop

First crocus

First skunk cabbage

First peek

Goldenrod: a late-summer feast for the bees

Goldenrod is one of those plants that everyone knows, but no one can identify—or so it seems. The genus Solidago—to which all the goldenrods belong—is extremely variable. The flowers, the leaves, even the general silhouette of the plant can vary markedly depending on where you live. The ones here on the west coast have [...]

Hover fly on Agastache

Hover flies are true flies, not bees. Flies have one pair of wings, and bees have two. If you can get them to hold still for a moment, you can easily see the difference. Hover flies are excellent pollinators and have the ability to remain seemingly motionless in mid-air. Many insects, including the one [...]