Ask any gardener, hiker or picnicker — the region’s wasp population got its sting back. “Compared to recent years, the number of wasps is considerably up,” said Richard Zack, Washington State University entomologist. Equipped with sharp stingers, craving sugar and searching for water sources in a parched landscape, yellow jackets and paper wasps have been […]
bees
Posted inGarden
The Orchard Mason Bee
The orchard mason bee, also known as the blue orchard bee, is the Western native pollinator that appears each year in late winter and early spring to pollinate the early-blooming fruit trees and flowers. Its scientific name, Osmia lignaria propinqua Cresson, describes the insect order to which it belongs and also includes ants, bees and […]
Posted inGarden
Our Bees are in Trouble
Bees are in trouble — in recent years, the bee population has plummeted. A compilation of problems is to blame: Bees are essential to the production of one out of every three bites of food that we eat. A growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids (neonies), the world’s most widely used pesticide, as a […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
Better Garden Bounty with the Help of Mason Bees
I am not a mason bee expert but I recognize and benefit from their hard work during rainy weather. A few years ago, my strawberries were seedy and not uniformly plump and succulent, so I contacted my local Master Gardener for ideas about what was going on in my fruit garden. The diagnosis was “a […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
The Top 10 Ways to Make Your Community Bee-Loved (Mason Bees, Part 3)
Editor’s note: Now that we know the benefits of mason bees, here’s what we can do to make West Sound bee-friendly. This is an excerpt from “Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time,” a book by Dave Hunter and Jill LIghtner recently released by Seattle-based […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
Why Keep Gentle Bees? Part 2
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from “Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time,” a book by Dave Hunter and Jill LIghtner recently released by Seattle-based Mountaineers Books. Read Part 1 to learn about the types of gentle bees and how mason bees are different. […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
Why Keep Gentle Bees? Part 1
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from “Mason Bee Revolution: How the Hardest Working Bee Can Save the World One Backyard at a Time,” a book by Dave Hunter and Jill LIghtner recently released by Seattle-based Mountaineers Books. In Part 2, learn about the benefits of pollen in the garden as well as reduced chemicals […]
Posted inFeatured, Garden
Get The Dirt — On Home Gardening
Carpenter Bees Recently at breakfast, I overheard someone talking about carpenter bees. Most people have heard about carpenter ants but carpenter bees were a new one to know. This person had inherited a deck that had been built with old, untreated and unpainted scrap wood. While sitting out on his deck, he noticed these small […]
Posted inFeatured, Garden
All About the Mason Bee
Mason bees are wonderful pollinators that are native to most of North America. They have been doing a magnificent job of pollinating long before the colonists brought in the honeybees from overseas. The mason bee is not a hive-dwelling bee, therefore there is no queen. Simply, groups of males and females emerge in late winter […]