Great Tree To Attract Butterflies & Bees

We try to include plants and trees around our home that are both super easy to grow and also add some level of use for beneficial insects. One of our favorites we added three years ago was a Vitex tree. Vitex Vitex agnus-castus also known by Chaste Tree, Lilac Chaste Tree and Monk's Pepper -Its hardy from Zone 6a-9b and can grow up to 20 ft tall. It likes full sun to partial shade and is grown for its nice foliage. If the tree is dead-headed it will encourage more blooms later in the season Its drought tolerant and suitable for xeriscaping. BUT, what sold us on it was the fact we saw how nicely it grew in the grassy median of the interstate  not too far from us. If the tree could survive there, we knew it was the tree for us. Vitex tree going into its 3rd summer here American Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis) Better view of the amazing color of this "Painted Lady" I took these pictures on a very windy day so it was hard to capture the honeybees that were buzzing around the tree.

Honeybee Inspection Day

I have been keeping an eye on my bees this Spring after the fiasco I faced last Spring. There's nothing like having a houseful of company in from out of state and looking out at your beehive that's decided to swarm. Yes, May 2010 was eventful. So much busy work getting ready for the big event of my son's graduation that I had neglected to watch for the signs of a potential swarming to come. I should have known. Spring blooming was strong and everything was nice and lush around here. That kind of activity tells the bee colony that they need more workers to collect nectar and pollen. But, I was just too busy to see it, until it was close to being too late. Thanks to the help of my dad and some quick thinking we were able to set up the second hive to attract the swarm. It was touch and go for awhile but in the end we succeeded!

In case you are wondering, I have two Kenyan Top Bar Hives. I have a lot of reasons for choosing it because of the more natural environment. I have previous posts that explain it in further detail here about beekeeping.

Being May again I am monitoring those hives like a hawk. I'm ready with the third hive if needed. 

This is a brood comb where bees are raised
The  brood comb will be darker and the wax harder. The raised cells are drones. The flat will be workers. No queen cells here.  

This is an actual honey comb that is just starting to be filled.
In a Top Bar Hive it is behind the brood combs. The wax is light and they will  add more combs as the season progresses

This is the new hive we added last year. By moving several bars of brood combs from the older hive about to swarm, they stopped and relocated to this hive which is next to the older one. See the different color bars?

Every bee has a job and these are a couple of undertaker bees removing one that has died.

The bees are doing well and the hive looks healthy. I am concerned though about another round of cross-combing in the older hive. I battled this last year and cleaned them out, checked that the hive was level and it still happened. How do you tell a bee they are building honeycombs the wrong way? I just hate it because inspecting the honey area always causes damage to the combs they are forming. The new hive is fine thankfully. I will just keep checking and see what I can do.

Honey harvesting here starts at the end of June through July. And last year's honey was delicious! 

Busy As A Bee

It has been over two weeks since I've last posted anything on here. Shame on me! I wish it were because I was off on some tropical vacation or something as a reason why, but NO I've been here "busy as a bee." With school work, yard work, the animals and my volunteer obligations I've been a bit overwhelmed. Finally though, I'm able to blog a bit about what's going on around here.

First the bees....



Taking a peek inside was such a treat! The bees were busy, busy, busy building their combs and filling them.



These pictures were taken a little over a week ago. I checked on them again Sunday and the combs are even larger now and more are capped. All of these photos were taken from the back of the hive.



I am just amazed at their ability to construct their hives. The natural shape of the doesn't change the perfect hexagon cells.

Bee Progress

Well after several days of letting the bees get settled, it was time for a hive check. Plus I really was a bit anxious to see what they'd been up to since their arrival on Monday.

What fun it was to be fully geared up and able to get a closer look at the bees in action. Using my smoker I blasted away trying to make sure the bees were nice, calm and distracted. It was easy as pie trying to get into the hive and do an inspection. First on my agenda was to remove the queen's cage that she had been shipped in. It was completely empty of both her and her candy. It looks as if they'd just started to build a comb around the edges so I was thankful to have it removed from there.



You know I worry about squishing bees so I tried to carefully slide the top bars apart to get the queen's cage out and then inspect the hive. It was challenging but pretty non-eventful. With a little maneuvering I was able to push them back down under the bars as I closed them back together. I was really happy to see that the bees has already constructed several combs about 3-4 inches square. There probably were more but I stopped looking as to not disturb them any further.

Removing the feeding can that came with was another task I had to take care of too. It was bone dry. I was thankful it was pretty full when I got the bees on Monday because of all of the rain we've had lately. It was just near impossible for them to gather much food for themselves.

Speaking of food, I was able to take some close-up shots of the bees going in and out of the hive entrance. I was fascinated by the amount of golden yellow pollen they could carry on their tiny feet! Click on the image to get a closer look.



Several people have told me beekeeping is addictive. Well, I am already a believer. I wonder what the rest of the year has in store.

Field of Flowers

This is part of our front lawn. We are trying to make the most of how it is being used. Right now we've just left it alone, allowing a natural cycle of growth. We have a lot of clover that grows, blooms, dies and decomposes adding valuable nutrients back into the soil. The same goes for other winter "weeds" which includes the loathed henbit.

You see, there are beneficial insects that depend on areas where there are things in bloom throughout most of the year. Honeybees and butterflies are just to name a few of those who are seeking nectar. By allowing our lawn to go through the natural process, we've had something blooming in it at all times since February.

Our current bloomer is oxalis. It has really taken off this year. The waves of yellow are quite pleasing to view. So that makes the third color... first was purple (henbit), then white (clover), and currently yellow (oxalis). In the midst of all of it are bits of blue tiny flowers that I still need to identify. Seeing the population of ladybugs, bumblebees, butterflies and honeybees increase since we moved here 3 years ago amazes me. I think word is getting around that we have a pretty nice place to feast free of chemicals!

The photo here is like playing "Where's Waldo?" (click photo to enlarge) There is a honeybee on one of the flowers. Between the bee not wanting to pose and my camera's slow speed, the timing was a challenge. The bees were hopping from one flower to the next WAY before I could get focused. So 10 picture failures later...this is it!

We DO want to continue to add plants and trees to our lawn that will both feed us and them. Our plan is to build low water usage beds that will give habitat for butterflies and encourage building their population.

Maybe if we lived with a tiny patch of lawn, then having it in a condition that best worked with our needs, we would make different choices. Neighbors may not be so happy with you in a nice suburban-pristine-lawn subdivision. But, better choices could be made by considering what you are truly impacting negatively by having a basically sterile lawn. Considering a perennial bed (even if you can only in the back yard) will help. Since we are on a few acres, it just didn't seem right to sterilize the whole yard, just for the sake of aesthetics. With CCD on the rise for bees and a marked decline in other beneficial insects, our choices DO count.

Plus... it makes life just a bit more colorful I think. Now, we do mow as to not let it get too tall, and it seems we have more flowers than the fields around us. It's either that or the horses and cows have eaten all of the flowers. :)