Day #523 Buttonbush

So, I went looking for the Buttonbush I mentioned yesterday  and found lots of internet info sources about Cephalanthus occidentalis. All of them said that the buttonbush is highly beneficial to honey bees and bumble bees.

The University of Texas native Plant Databaset Society website has plenty of colorful pictures of buttonbush. Here are a few - and all of them, by the way, list “unrestricted usage,” so I’m not infringing on any copyrights:

Green one and white one - both by Andy and Sally Wasowski of Burnet TX, who call themselves the Botanical Missionaries:

This photo that shows the red fruit form is by Joseph A. Marcus of Canyon Lake TX:

And finally, Sandy Smith of Sunset TX shows us this clump of fruit. Note the little critter (only the legs are showing) on the leftmost fruit.  Is it a spider? If you can't see it well enough, click on the "clump of fruit" link.

The buttonbush can grow to 10 feet tall, and it likes all kinds of soil, but particularly wet ones. And it likes shade.

I’m going to think about planting one down by the creek.

BEEattitude for Day #523:

       Blessed are those who are curious about how life works, for they shall be endlessly entertained.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #521 Bees and Firefighters

Two meetings this week -- and both were packed full of information. Tuesday evening was the monthly Gwinnett Beekeepers meeting, and the speaker was Dave Arnold, who’s an expert in landscape management with wildlife in mind.

Here are the plants he recommended for bees (and some for butterflies, too):

• Button Bush
• Snapdragons
• Goldenrod
• Aster
• Alfalfa (let it bloom)
• Anise Hyssop
• Borage
• Mint
• Spanish Needle

I’d never heard of several of them, but I’m going to get out my books and catalogs.

How many of these are found in your yard?

Speaking of yards, Dave said that there are more than 45 million acres of lawn in the United States. Lawn -- pesticide and fertilizer-ridden, a veritable dessert for bees and other pollinators.

If you have that kind of dessert around your house, how about considering a change to a pollinator-friendly lot?

And then, Thursday evening, the Gwinnett County Citizens Fire Academy. Whew! This is going to be a busy twelve weeks. I’ll share some pictures with you when I do the ride-along, and when I try crawling through a “burning” building (fake smoke). That’s won’t be for another few weeks, though. We have to learn a lot of skills before they put us into those yellow suits.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about how I surprised the Fire Chief.

BEEattitude for Day #521:

       Blessed are those who do what they can to make the world a better place, for they shall benefit from a feeling of accomplishment.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart