Joining the hunt for bees
Last night I signed us up to participate in the Great Sunflower Project, a study by biologist Gretchen LeBuhn of San Francisco State University. The goal of GSP is to assess the health of bee populations across the country, using data reported by citizen-scientists (that’s us!). Can’t wait until my sunflower seeds arrive. Cheers to Susan Harris for posting about GSP on Garden Rant, where I first read about the project.
Bees have been frequent visitors to the blooms on our redbud tree this month:
But as many of you have already heard, bees are struggling. And declining bee populations are a cause for concern, since bees pollinate all our plants, including plants that produce food. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I really want to continue eating broccoli.
So again I say: go, bees, go.
Posted in insects, sustainability
March 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm CDT
Oh! Thank you so much for posting this; I’ve posted about my own desires to maintain bee populations in and around my garden in the past. I’ll look into the Great Sunflower Project.
You’re very welcome!
-Brianna
March 20th, 2008 at 7:58 am CDT
Well, darn, I just planted sunflowers but not the kind that the project wants. I guess I’ll send off for some. Thanks for the link.
You’re welcome–enjoy the project! I’m planning to post my GSP observations and data logs here on Seeds, and I’ve been wondering whether other bloggers who are participating might do the same. I’d be interested in reading others’ observations.
-Brianna
March 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pm CDT
Every time I go outside, I hear buzzing all around me. It’s a good sound though. Cause I know it’s part of nature’s song.
Brenda
*nods & smiles*
-Brianna
March 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pm CDT
Thanks for educating us all - I know this is a big problem. I have many bee-friendly plants, but I’ll have to see what I can add to the mix. (We like broccoli, too!!)
I want to keep adding bee-friendly plants, too. In the mean time, all the dandelion blooms should serve them well.
-Brianna