Bees in the D: An Un-BEE-leavable Program Presented by the Hartland Home & Garden Club!

We're gearing up for spring with the Hartland Home & Garden Club! This fantastic local group, which manages Cromaine's native plant garden and other community projects, hosted an engaging program in the Community Room this week featuring Brian Peterson-Roest, Founder of Bees in the D. This pollinator-supporting non-profit started with only six beehives in 2016, and now has more than two hundred local hives throughout Southeast Michigan! 

This program focused on how to create the perfect pollinator garden to support bees, butterflies, birds, and even flies, moths, and other pollinators. The room was packed with enthusiastic gardeners, and it was a wonderful evening of connection and learning as we wait for the warmer weather of spring. 

We explored some of the ways in which bees are complex and important creatures, with so much to contribute to the world and their own beautiful intrinsic value. Here are some of the amazing facts we learned during the Bees in the D program, generously sponsored by the Hartland Home and Garden Club! 

1. There are about 4,000 species of native bees in North America! Major bee groups include bumblebees, carpenter bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees, and more.
2. Bees don’t hibernate! Instead, they form what is called a winter cluster in order to stay warm through the winter. The bees swarm into a ball and vibrate, generating heat. The queen stays in the center of the cluster and enjoys winter at a cozy ninety degrees.
3. We need pollinators. Upwards of 80-90% of plants need pollination in order to go to fruit or seed. In some areas where pollinators are very sparse, some farmers have been forced to hand-pollinate their crops. This can be a very time consuming task!
4. Bees communicate by dancing! This is called the waggle dance, a movement based on a figure-eight that communicates the location of a pollen source to other bees. Bees can learn the distance of the pollen source and its direction relative to the sun, just from watching another bee dance!  
5. Pollinators benefit enormously from a variety of plants! Flowers like blanket flower, joe pye weed, false sunflower, bee balm, and columbine are valuable, and herbs such as anise, dill, sage, chives, yarrow, and other herbs. Even fruit and vegetable plants can benefit pollinators, such as zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkin, cucumber, and others.
6. Climate change is affecting bee populations. Warmer winters cause flowers to bloom earlier in the season, but bees need more consistently warm temperatures in order to survive. By the time bees emerge and are ready to pollinate, many spring flowers have already passed bloom.
7. Don’t jump to spring cleaning too fast! Wait to clean up plant debris from fall and winter until we have enjoyed about a week of 50 degree (Fahrenheit) weather at night. By this time, native bees have usually emerged from hollow stems, leaf litter, and other cozy spots in plant debris, and we can clean up our yards without harming pollinators!
8. Nectar isn’t enough! Bees need water, too. Consider making a pollinator watering station in your garden. Be sure that it’s shallow enough (or has something for bees to stand on while they drink) to prevent drowning. 

There's so much more to learn about bees and pollinators! Visit the Bees in the D website here to explore the many ways in which this non-profit organization works to support local pollinators, and how you can, too! 

Looking to get more involved in the Hartland Home and Garden Club? Consider joining us for April's program, Improving the Older Garden! Gardener Janet Macunovich will share some of the many ways we can address issues in our more mature gardens. Plus, get ready for the Native Plant Sale on Saturday, June 14! Purchase a variety of native flowers and grasses to enjoy for years to come. Get the pre-sale order form here. 

Your Cromaine Library is gearing up for spring, too. Be sure to check out the seed bank on the first floor of the building, and don't forget to set your extra seeds and plant cuttings aside for the Spring Seed Swap on Saturday, April 5 @ 11:00 am! Meet us in the Community Room to drop off your donations, take home the seeds you need, and chat with other local gardeners. We can't wait to see you there! Plus, stay in the know about green living in Hartland by joining the Thinking Sustainably email list. Receive updates on Cromaine's materials, programs, and resources related to sustainability on the third Friday of each month! 

We are so grateful to our Hartland Home and Garden Club for the amazing work that they do in our community-- including hosting this fantastic program with Bees in the D! Thanks to all of the enthusiastic gardeners who joined us for the evening. We hope to see you at the Library again soon. 

Happy spring!