*** It’s very important to have flowers all season long, from February to frost, to satisfy the early Masons right through to the late season foragers. Plant several of each, as bees like to ensconce themselves in a big patch of their favourite flowers and just hang out, gathering pollen and sipping nectar in the

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Courtesy of Lori Weidenhammer A link to Lori’s Blog. * Denotes a medicinal plant for bees BOLD denotes special interest for bumblebee plants (buzz pollinated, longer corollas or special relationships, ie trip pollination) Native and Near Native Shrubs: Willow (Salix spp.) maybe the most important plant for honeybees and significant for bumblebee queens, Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)

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By Faye  Onions are alliums, chives are alliums and leeks are alliums. Alliums are among the oldest cultivated plants in the world, adding much to nearly every global cuisine. Ornamental alliums however, are relatively new to the landscape, being developed in Holland around the middle of the 19th century. Many new varieties have been introduced

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Most of us know already that there is a world-wide honey bee crisis; the bees are dying and our crops are threatened due to lack of pollination. This is a wake up call to which we can respond by helping our local bee populations. In part, a solution for pollination may lie with our own

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by Faye To keep your local bee population well fed and happy, think ahead to have early blooming flowers in your garden. Bumble bees emerge from their winter nests while the weather is still cold, and need sustenance right away. The Masons are a little later, when the temperature is reliably above 14 degrees C.

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While it’s still only November, I decided to put my Mason Bees to bed early.  I hoped that maybe my precious pollinators would have fewer mites if I got them cleaned earlier in the season. Any time between October and January is prime time for cleaning cocoons, and I’ve usually done this task in January.Our

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by Brian Have you opened and cleaned your mason bee condos yet?  If not, you should be planning to do this soon, and then get the cocoons into the fridge, in a ziplock bag, to delay emergence until the timing is right for pollination.  I opened and cleaned my condos a few days ago and

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With our gardens under a beautiful white blanket at the moment, it’s a pleasure to think ahead of warmer months outside.  While the nursery is now closed until February, we have been busy planning, ordering, and generally looking forward to a wonderful new season ahead. Are you poring over seed catalogues? That always feels to me

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We are now past the Autumnal Equinox, and into the third season of our year.  It’s been quite a year, with bees struggling against unseasonable cold and wet for a very long time this past spring. However, the cycle of nature worked through the challenges, and the bees are now fully formed in their cocoons,

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At the end of the day a few weeks ago I went onto my porch to check on my bees and discovered to my horror that a woodpecker had visited my bee condos.  As the photo shows, almost all of the mudded-up channels had been opened.  There were shards of clay lying all over the

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Finally finally, the weather seems to have warmed up, and the cocoons in the bee houses are coming to life. The emerging bees will chew a little hole, and crawl out groggily, sit for a moment, then immediately fly off in search of that precious nectar and pollen which awaits within the flowers nearby. My

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With the hope that spring has arrived, and the promise of all that luscious fruit from your trees and bushes, it’s time to think about releasing your mason bees from their refrigerated snooze.  Check out our webpage for more details on Mason Bee Releasing. If you do have an orchard with trees that blossom at

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Diary of a Bee Nurturer Last year at this time, I posted Diary of a Novice Bee Nurturer on our website, and now, having completed two full years with my Mason Bees, I’m tentatively deleting the word  “Novice”.  My bees and I have come a long way together. In October, I brought the cocoons, still in their rows within the

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