The pollinator bed

In early May at our community garden's AGM I volunteered to look after the pollinator bed next to the raspberries. As soon as spring-like weather arrived -- finally, on the last days of May -- I scattered the contents of West Coast pollinator blend seeds over the soil's surface.

Last Sunday afternoon, the poppies were glowing and the bed was abuzz:

Have you heard about or seen Vanishing of the Bees? There was a screening in Vancouver last week, which I missed because I was attending a winter gardening workshop. I'm tempted to purchase the DVD as it's not too expensive even with shipping.

What's the bee count like where you garden? What plants are you growing to attract pollinators.

Comments

[kateri]

We have a lot more honey bees in the garden this year than we have had in the past. I'm guessing someone nearby has hives, though I don't know for sure. I plant annual and perenial flowers among my vegetables. I hadn't thought about it as a way to attract bees, but you are right, it does. I have california poppies blooming in my garden right now and the bees love them.

[Elaine]

Hurrah -- glad to hear the bee population is thriving in your part of the world, too, kateri.

[Diana Dyer]

Elaine,
I am soothed as usual by seeing your small part of the world through your eyes and words. Thank you for helping the pollinators. Another book to read about the trouble that bees are experiencing is Fruitless Fall. So much is negatively impacting the future of our food system. Thanks for ALL you are doing to positively impact our current and future food and agriculture systems. :-)
Diana

[Elaine]

Thank you, Diana, for your encouraging words and the reading recommendation. I was at the garden again yesterday, at first only to check my tomatoes. But I noticed the lavender and Nepeta were looking very neglected so spent the next two hours clipping away the dried portions. I like to think I was doing this not only to make the bed more pleasing to the human eye, but also to help the bees find the late blossoms still producing some nectar. I don't know if my trimming made any difference to the bees but I did enjoy their company.