Bee Humor

I was cleaning off my bulletin board for the new year and happily found this Argyle Sweater comic buried and thought you might enjoy: 

I found a few more to enjoy:

Mockingbirds to Bluebirds to Native Plants

(Photo from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeXgVccZsbzEWtSDa5eg4AAzvQweHGNAlbp7CIDyFpzo9iPnjvFGOgxG31iHhaE1hQXEO4XhrmSWw0qVcwy0FubzSVIpnQI2gBbbqp2G86waprD7KoER-LPq4sdnOwg2D07mXckFH58g/s1600/IMG_0471.jpg)

There was a flock of bluebirds this morning trying to feed on the berries on the Winterberry bushes. They were quickly chased away by a very territorial Mockingbird.

I was curious if this was a common problem and found that indeed it is, as described on the site:
Beautiful Wildlife Garden. 

The article is titled, "Mockingbird: Melodious but Mean": 

http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/mockingbird-melodious-but-mean.html

The searching unexpectedly led me to this 

amazing helpful and informative site connected to the above mentioned website about native plants:

 http://findnativeplants.com/. 

It includes listings of nurseries that carry native plants, recommended books, where one can view native plants locally, and even native plant organizations.

I was surprised to learn that some nurseries in PA, that specialize in native plants, are actually right in my area, including:

Gino's Nursery in Wrightstown (http://www.ginosnursery.com/) 

and

Collins Nursery located in Glenside (http://collinsnursery.com/)

Bountiful Harvest!

With a late start, well into June, 

after rebuilding all the frames and fence, we still managed to have 

a successful season and a bountiful harvest. 

(See July 1 blog entry for the back story)

The tomatoes were amazingly delicious, especially the cherry tomatoes, which were like eating candy. It was our first year for butternut squash, which grew well and we still have one more on the way.

The 4 eggplant matured late and are still producing, despite the beetles, with at least 8 more
to grow larger.

The 3 green pepper plants did well and produced 5 fruits each, even though they were in
the shadows of the basil plants.

The only issue we have is that the deer are somehow managing to jump or climb into the garden the last couple of weeks, eating the last few tomatoes and plants. Luckily, everything else is still intact. I added more fencing, more wire, but sadly still found hoof prints this morning.

As I was shooting these photos, the suspects were watching me from behind the pines and also eyeing my neighbors garden. 

Positive Monarch Fall Migration Update!

I have been keeping a close eye out for monarchs all summer. There has definitely been an uptick of adult monarchs passing through in the past 2 weeks here in Doylestown and also down at 

Cape May, NJ with fall migration having officially started. 

I never spotted any eggs or larvae on our milkweed.

(http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/006/cache/monarch-butterfly_630_600x450.jpg)

I was curious what others were seeing. I visited Journey North's migration maps and found this: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_all_fall2014.html

According to Journey North, as of September 4th, over 13 roosts, with one having as many as 500 individual butterflies, have been observed. There had been only 2 reported at this time last year. There are many more adults being seen on the move and Dr. Chip Taylor of Monarch Watch predicts the population to be twice as large as last year.

Join the party 

and report your sightings 

by logging in here: 

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Gallery.html?action=logout

More on Deer-Resistant Plants

We have tremendous deer pressure here and our plants are constantly under fire. Although, forsythia and peony are considered "deer resistant", this summer, the deer have eaten both to the point of killing the plants.

In Ruth Rogers Clausen's excellent book, "50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants",  a helpful rating scale is provided for each plant. The scale is just 7-10 with plants under 7 not even included in the book, as those plants are regularly browsed by deer.  So, 7 is described as "deer sometimes nip off flowers but leave foliage alone", 8 is "deer occasionally nip off one or two flowers but mostly ignore plant", 9 - just browse new spring foliage and 10 - rarely browse and usually avoid plant altogether. Bloom times, and growing and design tips are also included.

So, I was curious if my 2 plants were listed in the book.  Forsythia is not even included in the book! The Peony is included in the list of 50 but with a rating of 7-10.

(http://www.peonysenvy.com/art/care/IMG_3073.jpg)

For the most part, I find most of her choices and rating scales spot on, for example the Lenten Rose and Fringed Bleeding Heart have a rating of 9-10, which I completely agree with.

Some plants I didn't realize were deer resistant and I look forward to planting outside the fence include, Blue False Indigo, Yarrow, Castor Oil Plant and Hybrid Sage.

(http://www.monjilandscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/yarrowpink.jpg)

Population Crisis of Honey Bees, Monarchs: Whose next?

(pic from : https://ferrebeekeeper.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/colony-collapse-disorder-114439-530-353.jpg)

An excellent article from the NY Times,"Our Bees, Ourselves", explains succinctly the Honeybee crisis and also what this means possibly for the human race. As the author, Mark Wilson, states, honey bees are a resilient species having survived for over 40 million years and what is effecting them most definitely will impact us.

There are over 120 residues from different pesticides found in honey bee hives which reduce the effectiveness of the bee's immune system and make them more susceptible to disease. Certainly humans are exposed to these residues too and what impact is that having on us?

An the end of the article, he offers a positive note and solution.  He sites a recent study which shows that if sizable acreages of cropland are left unspoiled or uncultivated to support wild pollinators, there are higher crop yields and then in turn, higher profits. This concept also overlaps with what we are seeing with the Monarch population crisis and how it is critical to provide wild habitat and protection of milkweed.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/opinion/bees-and-colony-collapse.html?contentCollection=opinion&action=click&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article&_r=0

Unexpected Common Milkweed Expansion

(Picture from Washington Post)

Monarch butterfly populations have been in steady decline since 2003 caused in part by loss of habitat. The director of the organization, Monarch Watch, created a recovery plan which includes the planting nationwide of thousands of milkweed, the primary host of monarchs. The organization has shipped over 30,000 milkweed plants, see blog article: http://monarchwatch.org/blog/)

Although, this is a very important issue to me, I never made the time over the winter to order milkweed to increase the numbers we already have.

This spring, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the mowing of our upper meadow after 3 years stimulated the small patch of Common Milkweed, that had already been growing in our meadow. Common Milkweed is the most prolific of the 12 native milkweeds in PA and is also know as Asclepias syriaca.

Our Milkweed have expanded to several patches and now includes roughly 1000 healthy individual plants.

Here is a simple map showing the location and expansion of the Milkweed in the upper meadow, which covers about 2 acres. The lower meadow is largely wetlands and has very little Milkweed.

Milkweed spread via seeds carried by the wind, birds or animals or by rhizomes underground. The mowing probably exposed fertile ground for the seeds and stimulated the rhizomes.

Milkweeds' milky sap contain poisonous glycosides, which the monarchs feed upon and can tolerate and in turn gives it the protection it needs from predators. Milkweeds' nectar and pollen are free of these poisons and provide food for numerous bees, butterflies and other insects.

It's well after May, and I have not spotted any monarchs coming through still. 

Here is a map of the first adult sightings for North America through June 20th:

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_spring2014.html

The milkweed are blooming, mature and ready. Hopefully, the monarchs will show up soon.