A new gardening book with some BZZZZZZZZ
Besides producing oh-so-delicious honey, I’ve read that bees are responsible for up to one third of the food we eat. That includes many of the fruits and vegetables we grow in our back yards and market gardens as well as several agronomic crops our farmers produce. I’ve also read that bees are in trouble with the causes still under study and much debate.
That’s why I was delighted to come across Lori Weidenhammer’s recent book, Victory Gardens for Bees – A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees (2016) packed with great advice I can use in my own garden to help these hard working, unpaid insects.
With her roots in Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan, Lori is now a Vancouver-based author and artist. She works with students of all ages to create community gardens and educate her charges about planting gardens for pollinators and the value of eating locally produced foods. Her artistic talents and her sense of humour shine from the pages of her book, richly illustrated with great photography of both flowers and bees.
This book was a real eye opener for me. I’ve never paid much attention to bees. After reading about all the different species (e.g. longhorned bees, digger bees, mining bees, resin bees, etc.), you start paying attention to the bees in your own flower garden. Does this one have pollen pockets on its legs? Is this other one collecting pollen on its forehead?
The book includes planting plans, but probably of more use to most gardeners are the lists of flowering shrubs, trees, ornamentals, weeds, fruits, vegetables and herbs. Plant descriptions include hardiness zone, benefits to bees (for example which bee is attracted to this plant: the bumblebee, honeybee, solitary bee or other beneficial insects), and a short description of flowers, height and growing requirements. If nothing else, this book gives the gardener a chance to do an inventory of their garden plants in order to assess whether their yard is beefriendly (i.e bee-autiful).
While this book may not be of much benefit to commercial beekeepers per se, it is a definite musthave for anyone who takes gardening seriously.
Published by Douglas & McIntyre, Victory Gardens for Bees (softcover, 226 pages) should be available at your favourite bookstore.
Mark you calendars: To learn what you can do to give bees a helping hand, join Lori for Bumblebees in Your Garden on October 25 starting at 7:30 pm in the Emmanuel Anglican Church basement (607 Dufferin St., Saskatoon) as part of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society’s fall and winter workshop series.
Bernadette is an avid gardener and a board member of both the Saskatchewan Perennial Society and Friends of the Forestry Farm House (www.fffh.ca).
This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; www.saskperennial.ca; hortscene@yahoo.com; www.facebook.com/saskperennial). Check out our Bulletin Board or Calendar for upcoming garden information sessions, workshops, tours and other events.