Bee City Brandon

A diversion from what humans do.

Look at this cute little pollinator. Thnx Darren!!

Look at this cute pollinator!! Thanx Lisa Burch!

Show us your 'scary' Halloween pollinator Thanks for this cute photo of your Busy Bee Samantha!

If you are waiting for this snow to melt so you can finish your fall yard work here are some great ideas!

Sunday chuckles

Wondering how to prepare your garden for winter without disturbing overwintering insects? Along with leaving the leaves for beneficial insects, remember that sm...all carpenter bees, yellow-faced bees, and other stem-nesting bees will overwinter in hollow plant stems! Leave seed heads and stems intact over the winter to provide food for birds and shelter for insects. The best time to prune back dead plant stems is in spring, just before bees start flying. For more information, see our guide to Nesting and Overwintering Habitat for Pollinators and Other Beneficial Insects! #LeaveTheLeaves #LetThemBee Learn more in our Nesting & Overwintering Habitat For Pollinators & Other Beneficial Insects guide https://xerces.org//fact-she/nesting-overwintering-habitat Photo: A nest tunnel in a cut stem (Sara Morris).

Morale of the story...leave the leaves

Leave the leaves

"Mystery of the Missing Monarchs," book 2 of the "Geeky F@b 5" series, is a graphic novel about a group of friends who've just learned about the plight of bees and monarch butterflies. Their class is raising monarch butterflies, and the friends find an abandoned milkweed-filled field behind their school--clearly a haven for butterflies and bees. But the field is about to be bulldozed for a new convenience store. How will the five girls save the monarchs?

LEAVE THE LEAVES

Fall is a great time to start creating habitat in your gardens for stem-nesting bees. Check out this wonderful diagram by Heather Holm (Bee and Pollinator Books by Heather Holm), Elaine Evans and Colleen Satyshur (University of MN Bee Lab), and Sarah Foltz-Jordan (The Xerces Society) to help get you started! For a full sized PDF of this diagram visit: https://bit.ly/3lEtx0D

Nicola Davies's "Bee Boy and the Moonflowers" is a beautiful and poignant story about a boy who has to save his dying family by taking their bees to the moonflowers so that they can create healing, silver honey. The boy is very young and the journey to the moonflowers is long and dangerous. And, after he reaches the moonflowers, he meets an enchanted bear protecting enchanted birds who eat his precious bees. The story is both simple and anything-but!

And our winner of the #bdnbeesighting photos is Brooke T! She wins "Bees in Your Backyard" Book!!! Thanks to all you entered. Be sure to Leave your Leaves this fall for the pollinators!!