We recently took part in the ongoing collaboration of The Wylde Center, DeKalb County Public Libraries, and the City of Decatur by speaking at their Living Green Series of educational talks on May 6th. Pandra and I talked about our native bee species and what the public at large can do to help maintain and create habitat for them.
About 15 people came out to hear us speak, which isn’t bad for a Monday morning at 10 a.m
Pandra let them know all about Bumblebees and their method of buzz pollination, which makes them much more efficient pollinators.
I described how bees fill their pollen baskets on the backs of their legs.
More talk of pollen, this time on a Blue Mason Bee.
And then a few samples of housing built for bees. We demonstrated how to roll up tubes of old newspaper to create similar houses for Mason Bees and let everyone join in the fun after the talk. We enjoyed meeting and talking with a number of people very enthusiastic about helping out the bees with a few nectar plants here, a few bare patches of ground there, and a few bundles of tubes up a tree.
And speaking of insect housing, check out this cool link someone emailed us just this morning. Houses for insects can be interesting garden sculptures as well.
The Living Green Series continues in June with a composting workshop for the whole family! Compost is one of those things that may be daunting to start, but it quickly becomes a habit, or a way of life, and it’s one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your waste stream dramatically AND you get free soil amendments. Mark your calendar for June 15th and make sure to RSVP for this FREE class.
