Greetings my bee friends! Spring is fast approaching and with it, the lovely reappearance of the bees, birds, bugs and butterflies—-our trusty pollinator friends!
There is a wonderful seminar coming up for you backyard enthusiasts or wannabees. It is offered by the Xerces Society. Please sign up to learn more about how we can support the precious treasures of our pollinators.
 | Best Practices for Pollinators 2022 VirtualBest Practices for Pollinators Sixth Annual Summit |
Did you know that we have over 1000 wild bees indigenous to the southwest. Most people are not aware that there are multitudes of magical looking ground nesting bees— 3 x as efficient in pollinating as honeybees. They are adapted and co-evolved to the plants of the southwest and often so under the radar that we miss their silent but critical presence around us.
Sadly we disturb and develop the ground that they need to do their nesting. We cover soil with unbreathable weed barrier, dump rocks on it, RoundUp or other pesticides to kill “weeds” or make the mulch so thick, the bees cannot readily build their nests underground and have a simple unencumbered entry. Soil and landscaping that is watered heavily also discourages these little bees.
Here are a few of these little beauties that we want to attract—in order from left to right–osmias, perditas, anthidellums, diadasias, metallic green sweat bees and bumblebees.
I hope you’ll invite the ground nesting native bees by leaving undisturbed habitat in your yards, or by securing a native bee hotel/casita and also attending the aforementioned excellent seminar by the Xerxes society to learn more! Spread the word!
Here’s to the Spring bloom and our thriving bee populations!
thinklikeabee 
Did my best to talk Kirtland Elementary School out of spraying pre-emergents, so they left the garden areas alone but sprayed the parking and office areas. We will have a good crop of goatheads to hoe, but at least the kids can eat out of the gardens without harm:-)
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