Update on Operation Buzz!

Yesterday I went out to check on my flowers and I am very pleased that my bumble bee population has increased to 2!! Yes, I saw 2 at the very same time. Then I went to check on my garden and lo and behold, I had a bumble bee pollinating my tomato flowers. On a side note: Since we planted those "bee friendly" flowers by the shed, my tomato plants are finally starting to produce fruit and not just flowers.

I got a book from the U of Mn called Befriending Bumble Bees (which is a fasinating, quick read) and there was a small part about bumble bees and tomatoes I found very intersting:

Buzz Pollination
Bumble bees ensure the perfection of tomatoes by performing a special feat called "buzz pollination." The bumble bee grabs the anther cone (the flower part containing the pollen) and shakes it, releasing pollen that would otherwise stay trapped in the anther cone. The pollen is then available to fertilize flowers so that fruit can be produced. Good pollination produces large, evenly shaped, attractive fruits.

I will thank my small number of bumble bees for finally pollinating my tomatoes!

I did finally get a picture of one of my bees. The Joe-Pye-Weed is finally in bloom and it kept her busy enough not to mind my camera right in her face, or mostly rear since she kept turning away from me.

I bet my neighbors think I'm crazy running around with camera in hand...<

Flowers

Here are some of the other flowers we have right now:

Petunias and geraniums that I planted in my garden along with merigolds. We found a Wikipedia page that gives plants that naturally keep gardens healthy:
Marigolds Deter: nematodes, beet leaf hoppers, other pests
Petunias Deter: leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, aphids, asparagus beetle
Geraniums Deter: leafhoppers, Japanese beetles

Osteospermum hybrids (orange, yellow, and white) and Calibrachoa 'MiniFamous Dark Blue'

Petunias that were given to us as a hostess gift

Weigela shrub? We've got 2 of these

Carl, the lemon tree, keeps blooming. It smells so good!

While not blooming yet, this Wisteria vine is growing about 6" every day or two. Next year it should be covered in flowers!

This Thumbergia was a $2 rescue. Planted in front (until the vine takes over) are Ageratum hybrid "Artist Blue." They did not fair too well in the last heat wave.

My cucumbers are flowering like crazy! They must love this hot weather.

My heirloom tomatoes are finally blooming and are actually being pollinated!! I've had countless blooms fall off with no fruit.

Our green pepper plant has 3 peppers and is getting ready to bloom again.

Sugar snap pea flowers are so pretty. The pea pods grow so fast!

And this is just the Backyard!

Operation BUZZ - Update

After my last Operation BUZZ post I decided to get busy (like a bee)!!

That weekend Drew and I cleaned out the stupid rocks from the north side of our "out building" otherwise known as our garden shed. We scored a buy 2 perennials get 1 free deal at the local nursery and planted 6 semi-native plants.

From left to right: Joe-Pye Weed, Bee Balm, Salvia (I think), Bee Balm, Golden Alexander, and Catmint.

Almost immediately the little bee-like Hoverflies (Drone Flies) found the flowers!!

This Hoverfly is on a Lemon flower.

Then after about a week I saw a Monarch hanging out near by!! And finally yesterday when I let Memphis out in the morning to do his business, I saw a BUMBLE BEE, pollen pouches full and all!!!!!! Again this morning my single little bumble bee was there again. She has proven to be very camera shy and high-tails it as soon as I pull the camera out. I'll just have to try again tomorrow morning. Here is hoping that she will tell her family and we'll bee swarming in bumble bees!!

The golden Alexander was in bloom when we planted, but has since finished. The 2 bee balms were just starting and are still producing. The Salvia finished blooming right after we planted, and the Catmint is going strong. The Joe-Pye weed is due to bloom in August and the flower heads are getting bigger every week! I also have 8 butterfly started. When they get big enough to survive the rain coming off the roof of the shed, we will pull up the horrid hostas and put them flanking the door of the shed.

Pictures

Cicada Close up

It's always fun to wake up to a cicada on your succulent plant!

Common Green Darners - in tandem

Canada Darner chilling on our light

Canada Darner close up!

An immature Widow Skimmer let me get REALLY close. He was hanging out on my garden trellis

This male twelve-spotted skimmer likes to perch on our lines going to our house. The female usually perches lower on the garden trellis or a pot.

July 4... Como Zoo

On the 4th of July we went to the Como Zoo with Drew's sister's family. Ty, Drew's nephew, is going to be 2 in August and it was his first time to the zoo.

Ty thought the flamingos and ducks were the greatest!

One of my favorite parts of the Como Zoo is the Conservatory. We missed the bloom of the Corpse Flower by only a day or two. It was still pretty cool to see the closed flower.

Drew and I in the sunken garden.

I <3 water lillies & dragonflies. Here are some other photos that Drew took:

Operation Buzz

There are no bees in my neighborhood!

Not my picture

Granted there are not a lot of flowers in my neighborhood, but this spring when our crab apple tree was in full bloom it was silent. My parent's crab apple is a constant buzz until the blooms drop. My blueberries flowered, but were not pollinated so alas no fresh blueberries for me this year.

It looks like Carl, the lemon tree, is being pollinated by flies.

I have been doing a little bit of research about bees, bumblebees in particular. They are ground nesters and apparently the amount of mulch now is considered one of the reasons for the population decline. Bumblebees need bare ground to make their nest, the average homeowner doesn't want to weed their landscaping so they put down mulch or rocks. Other things like pesticides and lack of flowers are also probable culprits.

Drew and I have been attempting to get different colored and shaped flowers in the backyard. So far we have pansies, wisteria, tiger lilies, strawberries, blueberries, geraniums, petunias, 3 different flowering shrubs, plus a bunch of different flowering veggies. We still have not seen a difference. Granted we just planted, so hopefully next year will bring a bigger change. I also have in mind to plant a prairie/rain garden in a low spot in our front yard, and Drew got the idea to put some flowering plants along the north side of our shed. I also think we will dig up some hostas (planted in full sun) and replace with rose bushes.

I do not mulch my garden and we have pulled up some patio tiles that surround our shed. Unfortunately there are rocks around our house. What a pain in the ass they are. We're constantly picking rocks out of the grass and returning them.

We do not use pesticides except on our house plants. The really unfortunate thing is once a week the city drives around our neighborhood and sprays for mosquitoes. This is done at night but I'm sure it cannot be helpful to all the other insects.

I read online about creating bumblebee nesting by putting clay pots together and burying them. I think that I might just be doing that in the near future. If it doesn't work, we forget they're there and if it does work then we have more bumblebees! http://www.bumblebee.org/nestbox_plans.htm

If you have any ideas please let me know. I really don't want to pollinate my flowers by hand!

Unexpected rescue

What a weekend! First on Saturday a bunch of family came over to go to dinner with us. The food was fantastic at Zellas. Drew got the BBQ ribs; I am not a ribs fan but they were awesome!

Then yesterday after our guests left we decided we needed to get outside and away from the house, so we decided to go to one of the Meeker County Parks near Darwin and Dassel. Without a lot of thought I chose to go to the south side along the wetlands. I was hoping to see some waterfowl and dragonflies. Well, with our wet and rainy spring, all we found was mud and mosquitoes. After about 15 minutes we admitted defeat and returned to the car. I don't like the north side as well because there is a rest stop and always at least one car there. We lucked out and no one was there when we arrived. It was a fantastic little hike. The north side is prairie-like and surrounded by woods. I say prairie like because it is mostly made up of brome grass. There are miles of trails wandering through. Plus there is a giant hill, which I think might be the tallest point in the county.

I think Memphis had the best time of all - in fact my tired puppy is still sleeping this morning!! He was chasing dragonflies and birds. Along one trail he even managed to upset a common yellowthroat. That tiny little black and yellow bird hopped along the branches following Memphis and scolding him (all the while he had a bug in his beak)! He was so feisty and fun to watch. Drew must have tried taking about 40 pictures of him and of course about 5 turned out!

Drew learned how much fun it is trying to take a picture of a warbler... this common yellowthroat never sat still for more than a few seconds!

There were a ton of dragonflies and damselflies out in the grass too! After last summer, I'm completely in love with dragonflies. I'm getting fairly good at IDing - if they are sitting still.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Four-spotted Skimmer

Dot-tailed Whiteface

Damselflies are hard to ID!!

Hagen's Bluet - Male

Unknown Immature Male

Unknown

Then on our way back to the car, Memphis was running around like a crazed dog... like usual... when he went on point near a small pine. Some small song birds started freaking out so we figured there must be a nest. We called him off and I sent Drew in to take some pictures. He had his telephoto lens on so his pictures were not turning out well so he had me go in with my camera. I decided that the best pic of the adorable almost fledgelings would be in the hand, so I picked one up. Shockingly the other came with it and was dangling in the air. It took a split second for me to realize that they were attached by fishing wire in their mouths. I yelled for Drew to come help (2 squirming birds and an expensive camera in my hands was a bit much). Thankfully he always carries a knife on him so we cut the line and each took a bird. After a few minutes debate and a gentle, steady, forceful pull and we each got the line out of their throats. I have no idea if they will survive, the bugs/bait they had eaten were digested beyond recognition but not completely dissolved, so I don't think they were starving. But I don't know what the effect of pulling the line (and food contents) out of their bodies will do to them. I was completely shocked and disgusted that people still leave line laying around!
We felt so bad for babies and parents that we put them back in the nest and left without taking anymore pictures. Of course I was so preoccupied with freeing the babies that I didn't ID the parents. When we got back to the trail and tried to find them, they had already gone down to the nest.

Sorry for the blurry photo but it is the only one we have. If you look close to the fledgling on the left you can see the line coming out of its mouth. Poor thing!

Lesson of the day: Throw your line away!!

The Wedding Post

Thought I would tell you about my crazy ideas for our wedding.

Colors: Black and Red (think blood red)
Theme: Not expensive :)

We are only having family to the ceremony, since between his family and mine that will be close to 100 people. We are having the ceremony outside and in Granite Falls, MN I think finding enough chairs will be interesting.

The reception on the other hand should be the start of a great party! We have a great DJ lined up and I hope to dance the night away with friends and family. It's also Drew's sister's birthday, so a bunch of her friends are coming to the dance.

I don't feel like a traditional bride. I'm more excited to marry Drew than have a wedding. Although, I'm having a lot of fun picking things that I feel people have not seen before. For example the thought has been tossed out that a string quartet verson of Don't stop Believing by Journey will be one of the songs played immediately before I walk down the isle. I'll be walking to Cannon in D - it's Drew's favorite classical song, so there was no question there.


So if you were invited, I really hope to see you in September! If you were not invited, I'm sorry but you are always welcome to crash the dance!

I'm Back!!

Hey all!

Sorry about the GIANT gap in posts - I forgot my password then I got busy. You know how much life can get in the way.

So what's new since November:
Well I turned a year older. 26 now and I'll be married by the time I'm 27!

I have been experiencing the "joy" of planning a wedding. My dreams of eloping have turned into a 400 person guest list. How did that happen! Unfortunately, most of my friends are scattered across the country and with the economy these days I do not expect them to show. I still invited them any way... just in case they are in the area. More about the wedding later.

I am still attending the local community college for Administrative assistant AAS degree. I just want something that is a little more versatile than my Wildlife degree. I definitely feel out of place there. Most of the ladies are non-traditional and are not the greatest with computers. One of my first classes was called Computer Techniques. Chapter 1: What is a computer. Needless-to-say I passed with 99%.

This spring I got my short-call, short-term substitute teaching license. Then I was called in as a long-term Science teacher at the High School. I spent almost 9 weeks teaching 10th graders about Biology Kingdoms and 11th & 12th graders about Ecology. It sounds like that teacher may not be coming back. So once I get caught up with my college courses I am going to apply for a full-time teaching license.

Other than that I'm still living the dream: waitressing as much as I can to pay the bills and holding out hope that the elusive full time job will surface soon.

So I will try to post a little more often!