Posts Tagged: California native plants
Honey Bee Haven virtual tour week of March 16, 2020
It's the first week of spring at the Haven and our plants are starting to look their best. For those of you who cannot make it to the garden this week, here's a brief tour of what's going on. For those who can make it, I've included some of the bees to look for. The garden is currently open,...
The Big 43: The California Native Plants, Plus One, Studied in UC Davis Research
When pollination ecologists from the Neal Williams lab at the University of California Davis--Ola Lundin, Kimiora Ward and Professor Williams--recently published their research in the Journal of Applied Ecology on "Identifying Native Plants for Coordinated Habitat Management of Arthropod...
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heading toward California poppy,Eschscholzia californica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Andrena (mining bee) on meadowfoam, Limnanthes alba. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, on fiddleneck, Amsinckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Native plant species (Photos by Ola Lundin)
Five Great Reasons to Add Flannel Bush to Your Bee Garden
One great plant that's often overlooked as a choice for the bee garden is flannel bush -- also referred to as California fremontia -- (Fremontodendron californicum). While the species is sometimes available, you're more likely to find one of the cultivars. Look for this plant at specialty...
Five Great Asters for the Fall Bee Garden
We know it's fall at the Honey Bee Haven is when our asters come into their full glory. This large (more than 600 species) group of plants even has its own book. Asters recently underwent a taxonomic revision that split the genus Aster into five genera. The commonly-available species either...
Plant Pairings for the Bee Garden
While entomologists might hope that we select plants for our gardens based only on their value as bee resources, gardeners want attractive plantings. To bridge that gap, here are some suggested plant pairings for the bee garden that not only look good together but also provide complementary bee...