Thanks to Brigit Strawbridge for a lovely, engaging talk in February. We can now tell the difference between flies and bees, solitary and bumble bees, and enjoyed discovering that the bumblebees that you see asleep in the morning are the males – the females are out working! We had some bee friendly seeds and pollinator identification charts available on the evening, and we discussed options for building our own bee-hotels.
With the warmer weather, bees will start appearing. You may already have seen some honey bees. Bumble bees will start appearing very soon – the large queens are looking for a new nesting place. Get your camera out to photograph the bees in your garden – so you can enter into the photo competition at the Flower show in September!
The next Hort Soc event is on the 21st March when we have two things planned.
Firstly, a short film, “Queen of the Sun” – an engaging and uplifting film which takes us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of honey bees and the mysterious world of the beehive.
Secondly, we will have a more hands-on session, showing you how to identify the pollinators in your garden and giving you hints and tips on how to attract them. There will be a hand out to take away, some seeds for bee-friendly flowers, and a free ‘ready to plant’ root cutting of Symphytum ibericum, a pretty dwarf comfrey which flowers early in the year and provides an early nectar source. We hope to run a fun quiz with a small prize.
Plant Sale Saturday 12th May 2-4 p.m. Village Hall.
Our increasingly popular plant sale. This is reliant on YOU – to produce plentiful seedlings for sale. Please especially grow bee friendly plants – grow some extra this year! We will have activities for your children and displays of bee-hotels for solitary bees to show you how to make your own.
Sunday 3rd June – Bee walk around Wellow, looking at the different types of beehives and colonies in our gardens and in the wild.