 Above photo credit: Sue Reinardy Spring is on the way! Many of us are already starting to plan our garden projects for the 2019 season. Once again the North Country Master Gardeners will be having a plant sale. The sale will be offering many new items. We will have two new pollinators to add to your pollinator garden. New varieties of tomatoes, peppers and a herb six pack! North Country Master Gardener Volunteers Annual Plant Sale, Saturday, May 18, 8:00 to 11:00 (or until plants last) at the Station Building, 1035 E Maple Street (Hwy 70), Spooner. Offerings include: Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers, Natives, Herbs, and Cannas Additions to the Pollinator Six Pack ~ Continue to Feed the Bees ~ the Ox Eye Sunflower and Purple Coneflower will be new additions to our Pollinator Six Pack. Ox Eye Sunflower Heliopsis helianthoides Produces huge quantities of brilliant yellow - orange flowers from June to September. Very easy to grow. Seeds are great for the birds. Grows 2 - 5' tall. Self - sows, does not spread by rhizomes. Hardy to zone 4. Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea One of the best for attracting butterflies and birds, this showy and easy to grow cone flower adds a flashy touch to the late - summer garden. Grows 3 - 4' tall. Perennial ~ Hardy to zone 4.  Above photo credit: Katie Childs AuthorCarla TePaske, North Country MGV
0 Comments
The worker bees have a tiring and dangerous job laboring from sunrise to sunset with a lifespan of about six weeks. Based on their productivity, periodically additional components called ‘supers’ were added to the hives to ensure their high rise had adequate frames for construction of combs and honey yield. Each super holds ten frames where the bees create mass hexagonal prismatic wax cells to store their honey. Labor Day weekend the beekeeper was as busy as the bees! As the photos indicate, it was time to harvest the excess honey. The process was as follows: first, the frames were removed; followed by scraping the honeycombs; third, the extraction process took place through centrifugal force in a barrel and the finale -the jars were filled with liquid gold! Since the harvest, the bees have continued to produce more honey, which is their food source, for the winter months ahead. In October, the bees began receiving an additional sugar syrup supplement along with protein patties. Also, with a hard freeze and bitter cold fast approaching, the hives got a very techie “spaceship” look. They have been cloaked in an aluminum flexiwrap -similar to what is used in outer space - that is ¼” thick and has a R-6 value. Also a vapor board has been placed on the top of each hive along with a one inch styrofoam section on the bottom to ward off drafts. Along with all the protective layers, the thousands of bees in each hive must do their part as well. The “heater bees verses the housekeeping bees” maintain the warmth in the hives by shivering or vibrating their flight muscles, raising their body temperature thus elevating the surrounding air by several degrees. Note, it has been a common practice for some apiarists to transport their bees in the hives to warmer climates over winter, to continue pollination of other crops such as the California almond groves. It is a fact, nature is not an exact science. However, optimism remains for the honeybees who buzzed around the Gardens on Golden Pond to be the official greeters next Spring in search of tulips and daffodils! For more information, please refer to wihoney.org; abfnet.org (American Bee Federation) and pollinator.org. Also plan a visit to the new Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska next year. It is the first building in a planned “farm to table” campus where the buzz is all about the bees! “The hum of bees is the voice of the garden.” Elizabeth Lawrence   2018 Upper Midwest Regional Master Gardener State Conference note highlights from Donna Amidon, MGV
Session: Pollinator Friendly Gardening. Rhonda Fleming Hayes (Author of Pollinator Friendly Gardening: Gardening for Bees, Butterflies and other Pollinators, writer for Star Tribune, Northern Gardener magazine and other publications). There is a growing body of evidence that supports mixing native and non-native plants in designed landscapes benefits pollinators. Bees do like non-native plants in addition to natives but some cultivars may have less pollen or other changes that are less desirable to pollinators. Bees love flowers with multiple florets for foraging and then they do not have to fly around so much to collect pollen and nectar. Herb gardens can be attractive to pollinators if you let some go to flowering stage. Other beneficial insects also love the flowers. Other suggestions:
*Keep “flower buffet” open throughout the whole season for pollinators with a continuous succession of flowering plants.
* There are almost 500 documented species of native bees in Wisconsin. * Bees are rarely aggressive but yellowjackets and wasps can be aggressive. * Honey bees are highly social in their hives but native bees tend to be solitary and mostly nest in the ground or cavities in trees or logs. * Tree pollination: most Midwestern trees are wind pollinated such as elm, oak, ash, birch, maple, and shrubs such as hazelnuts. Some trees and shrubs that have showy flowers in spring can attract pollinators, including red maple, black cherry, American basswood, service berry, dogwood, chokecherry, wild plum, pussy willow, and sumac. * Suggestions for attracting more pollinators are: leave some bare soil for ground nesting bees in the garden; rather than using wood mulch consider leaving the leaf litter on the ground in fall and consider it “mulch” throughout the year (some bees can nest in the leaf debris); do not cut back stems on all plants in the fall , leaving them up for bees to nest in over the winter and then cut back later in the spring to about 12-15 inches high; have some old logs on the ground in or near the garden for nesting . Contact information for Heather Holm: Website is PollinatorsNativePlants.com New book out: An Identification and Native Plant Foraging Guide Did you know:
Now showing in the Teaching & Display Garden are the most perfect peonies. The peonies were some of the few non-native plants retained when the Garden was converted to a Monarch Way Station. In bloom now along with the peonies are Baptisia (False Indigo), Aquilegia canadensis (Columbine), Prairie Pholx, Azaleas, and Nepeta Walker’s Low (Catmint). The Baptisia, Aquilegia, and Pholx are all native plants. Bees and several Monarch butterflies were busy at the blooms. It’s an excellent time to make a visit, check out the blooming plants and see the All American Selection displays as they are being planted (#AASWinners). The common expression when people stop by is “Wow”.
 The idea of an insectary is that certain plants contain properties that either invite beneficial insects or repel harmful insects. Beneficial insects prey on pests that cause damage in the garden. Ladybugs and praying mantis are good examples of beneficials. Using plants for pest control not only cuts down on your workload, but it also reduces the amount of insecticides that you use in your garden. And fewer insecticides means more good bugs, which in turn means help in controlling bad bugs.
Hello Gardeners, ”You deserve a Break Today…” Busy as bees, our Spring routines have begun here in the Northwoods as we aspire to the challenge of another exciting growing season. Whether your garden undertaking is large or small, eventually we all feel we’ve extended some muscles beyond the norm. On occasion, perhaps you like me, have cast aside the importance of “ergonomic” gardening, only to be reminded of it later when you reach for the Tylenol! Here’s an idea to interrupt that routine… lay down your rake or hoe, invite a friend and head to Cable, WI to spend a couple of hours visiting the new “BEE-Amazed...by our Native Friends” Exhibit at the Natural History Museum. I did just that on May 2 for the Grand Opening and was warmly welcomed by Emily Stone, Naturalist/Director and Mollie Kreb,Curator Naturalist of the Museum. Their team of creative volunteers have been designing and constructing this exhibit for months. I personally believe it should be nominated for the Natural History Academy of Exhibits Award! Did you know northwest WI is home to 166 species of pollen seeking native bees? Visitors of all ages will be enlightened with many useful facts and stimulating visuals throughout the interactive exhibit from the mural tracing a year long bee cycle to “Play Pollinator” at the pinball machine. Set your GPS and be on your way - you will BEE Amazed! The Cable Natural History Museum hours are as follows: Tuesday through Saturday 10 - 4 pm & beginning June 17, Sunday and Monday 10 - 2 pm. Phone 715.798.3890 www .cablemuseum.org And another opportunity...As part of the “Save the Pollinators” initiative, the certified Monarch
Way Station, established in 2016 by the North Country Master Gardener Volunteers, is an outdoor classroom with walking paths among the native flowering plants and shrubbery. This is a perfect segue to observe the bees and pollinators in action at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station Teaching and Display Garden, Spooner, WI. Kay D. Childs, North Country Master Gardener Volunteer Let us Celebrate Pollinator Week by heading to the plant sale on Saturday, May 19th! This year the NCMG will be offering a Pollinator Six Pack. A perfect way to get started in celebrating Pollinator Week! Gov. Scott Walker signed a declaration celebrating Pollinator Week June 18-24, 2018.  Our pollinator plants are growing well and will be ready for your gardens.
Our pollinator six pack features the following.. Lupine Butterfly Weed Swamp Milkweed Blazing Star Liatris Black eye Susan New England Asters You will receive planting instructions and other helpful tips in your pollinator six pack. See you at the sale! |
|
| North Country MGV | Get Social |
RSS Feed
Location |
|