by Sue Smith-Heavenrich If you garden, you’ve seen flower flies, though you may not recognize them. They’re the ones that look like bees and wasps and hang out on many of the same flowers that bees visit. Flower flies are also called hoverflies because of their ability to hang in midair by rapidly vibrating their
by Sue Smith-Heavenrich For the past 12 years I’ve kept track of the pollinators visiting my rural garden, counting the number of bees, wasps, flies and others that visit flowers. Each spring, things are quiet and I worry the bees won’t show up. But by July I see the glint of metallic sweat bees and
Orange-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus ternarius) on a dandelion. Photo by Leif Richardson Selene Frohmberg looking for bumble bees from the bow of a canoe. Photo by Eric Frohmberg Eric Frohmberg with his bee collecting kit. Photo courtesy of the Frohmbergs Selene Frohmberg collecting in a remote area. Photo by Eric Frohmberg By Tim King On a
I read with interest the letter in your winter newspaper issue from Joyce White regarding bees’ love of hyssop. We have had a hyssop next to our deck stairs for years, and every August we can hear the constant buzzing of bees as they work the blossoms. In 2018 I thought I would add to
Hyssop officinalis, from Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé “Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz,” 1885. By Joyce White I am grateful that younger friends and neighbors share some of their observations and experiences of Nature with me. Last spring a neighbor was out of work for a few weeks, healing from surgery. During this unusual period
Dense floral resources of a pollination reservoir in Maine. Photo by Eric Venturini, The University of Maine Eric Venturini and Audrey Maddox rake a seed bed free of debris before seeding a wildflower mix. Photo by Margaret McCullough, The University of Maine A tiny black bee visits Gaillarida pulchella in a pollination reservoir in Maine.
Large and small ground-nesting bees, Andrena nasonii, from the study region. Photo by Heather Grab By Sue Smith-Heavenrich A recent study shows that common ground-nesting bees grow smaller in heavily farmed landscapes than in natural areas. In a Northeast SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education)-funded study, Heather Connelly and her colleagues at Cornell University collected
A pollinator-friendly solar farm in Minnesota. Photo by Rob Davis, Center for Pollinators in Energy, used with permission. By Sue Smith-Heavenrich Solar farms are sprouting everywhere, from small community clusters of arrays to large industrial installations. Colby College, in Waterville, recently flipped the switch on its 9-acre, 5,300-panel solar field. The Madison Business Gateway in
Two native sweat bees. Photo by Daniel B. VanWart Carpenter bee. Photo by Daniel B. VanWart Eastern bumblebee. Photo by Daniel B. VanWart Half black bumblebee. Photo by Daniel B. VanWart By Gail J. VanWart Photos © Daniel B. VanWart, used with permission My husband, Daniel, and I steward an organic wild blueberry farm in
For this pollinator study, tomato plants in 5-gallon buckets had some of the flower clusters covered with net bags before they went into the field. Photo courtesy of San Francisco State University By Sue Smith-Heavenrich A study released earlier this year from San Francisco State University shows that native bees provide an important pollination service
Media Inquiries:
Contact Jennifer Wilhelm [email protected]
