Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Raising native bees: It’s a winner in our book
When I went to visit Don and Barb Knabb at their home in West Chester last week, the two were not the only ones to greet me. Buzzing and fluttering over the zinnias, sunflowers and marigolds massed along the front walkway were a host of bees and butterflies. What could be more welcoming!
I was eager to explore Barb and Don’s gardens and their nesting boxes for native bees. In their winning Gardening for Pollinators contest entry, the couple had mentioned the mason bees that they’ve been raising.
“We were always interested in native plants and how they support pollinators,” they said, “but what took us to the next level was several years ago when we read in ‘From the Ground Up’ about Mason bees.” The Knabbs began by ordering about two dozen of the native bees and have saved cocoons each year. It’s just grown from there. “We started this year with several hundred bees,” they said, “even after giving away about 100 cocoons to friends.”
Before we went out into the gardens, Don showed me the nesting tubes that they collected this past spring and are storing in their garage until hatching time. Female mason bees lay their eggs in tubes, with a supply of nectar and pollen, and seal the tubes with wet clay. (Hence the name “mason” bees.) Within the tubes, the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the stored food, and eventually create a cocoon. One of the tasks in raising mason bees is to remove the cocoons from the tubes, clean them, and store them safely. In early spring, it’s time to put the cocoons outside before the adult bees emerge, ready for mating and to start the cycle over again. Of course, the bees will do this without help, but setting out nesting boxes and overwintering the cocoons helps insure that more bees survive.
To support the bees, Barb and Don began adding plants that mason bees and other pollinators feed on. These include three different milkweed species: common milkweed [Asclepias syriaca]; butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa); and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). Milkweeds are the sole host plant of the monarch butterfly, whose numbers have been decreasing, and planting even just a few milkweed plants can help these insects. At a tall stand of common milkweed, Don and Barb checked the undersides of leaves for monarch butterfly larvae. They quickly found several tiny larvae, less than ¼ inch long.
Other native pollinatorfriendly species of plants throughout their property include Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum), which can support 41 species of caterpillars, spicebush, which provides early bees with food in the spring, and turtlehead, which supports the larval host of the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly. The Knabbs are also swapping out most of their former plantings for native varieties. They’ve replaced periwinkle, lily of the valley and lamb’s ears with creeping phlox, rudbeckia, asters, goldenrod (which supports 115 species of caterpillars) and several varieties of monarda.”
Barb pointed out the summersweet (Clethra alnifolia),
which “attracts a ton of bees and wasps,” St. John’s wort, and coreopsis. The Knabbs also grow blueberries, which Barb notes support 288 species of butterflies and moths, depending on their location.
Planting for pollinators extends to the Knabb’s organic vegetable garden, where they let dill and bronze fennel—both of which support pollinators— self-seed. They also let some lettuce go to flower, again for the pollinators. They say that “native plants and the pollinators they support are now a way of life on our property.” It certainly shows up everywhere, in plantings that are vibrant with bees and butterflies.
Don’s understated parting comment to me was, “It’s a fun yard.” For more photos from the Knabb’s gardens, visit Chester County Roots on Facebook.
Note: The column on raising mason bees that Don and Barb referenced can be accessed here: https://www. dailylocal.com/lifestyle/ from-the-ground-up-raisingyour-own-pollinators/article_e0d4f718-2909-53b0b7dd-707a56709eee.html
Pam Baxter is an avid organic gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families: Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets is available on Amazon, along with her new companion field journal, Explore Outdoors, at Amazon.com/author/ pamelabaxter.