[pbs] about the bees
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Mon Feb 9 12:05:53 EST 2009
Further to Ken's comment about the many kinds of bees in Oregon,
where he and I live:
At least up here at 1600 feet elevation, the only bees present in
midwinter in the bulb frames are European honeybees, which are fairly
common in this area. I don't know if they come from domestic hives
(which would be at least half a mile away) or if they are "feral."
The bumblebees (two kinds, I think) appear in mid-March, and the
mason and other kinds of smaller bees a little later. Many
fritillarias are pollinated by wasps, and some geophytes by flies or
even beetles; and then there are the many plants from the Americas
and South Africa that have evolved to be pollinated by birds. Here in
the country there is almost every kind of pollinator at one time or
another, and so the bulbs in the frames (more accessible than in a
greenhouse) set a great deal of seed and rarely need to be hand-pollinated.
Around here people can put out roadside signs "No Spraying" to keep
the county or state road department from spraying herbicides and
pesticides on their property frontage. This is generally to protect
bees and livestock, but it also helps native plant populations (and
unfortunately, blackberries).
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA
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