As a follow-up to my post last month regarding a lecture that I had attended on native bees presented by Dr. Robbin Thorp, a native pollinator expert and emeritus professor in the Department of Entomology at UC Davis, I recently visited the Häagen-Dazs Bee Garden located on the UC Davis campus.  For those of you who have never visited the bee garden, it consists of a half-acre parcel planted with bee-friendly plants to provide a nectar source to foraging bees year-round.  The bee garden also makes for a nice destination for an afternoon picnic.    

Although we have been enjoying spring-like weather in our region, mother nature is not fooled, as the bee garden still laid fairly dormant during my visit which took place the last week of February.  Despite there being few flowers in bloom, a sweet fragrance, like honey, lingered in the air—no doubt a harbinger of good things to come.  More birds than bees were out on the day that I visited, and the only bee that I could consistently locate, was either too busy minding her (and all worker bees are female) own business to stop for pictures, or was simply camera-shy.

When spring is in full bloom and the bee garden is at its best, consider visiting this bee habitat, as it features a nice collection/visual of plants many of our readers have heard about but perhaps have never seen up close, in person (e.g., ceanothus, autumn stonecrop, blue coneflower, rugosa rose, etc.).  The bee garden will undoubtedly inspire you and your own backyard garden with its design (e.g., how bee-friendly plants are integrated with, and staggered among, edible plants (see pictures herein). 

Note that the bee garden is open year-around, from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.  Guided tours will be offered beginning March 1, 2013.  For more information, please see http://beebiology.ucdavis.edu/HAVEN/index.html