Although the official day was April 22nd, Pasadena celebrated Earth Day Saturday so everyone could join in. There were arts events, home tours and bike tours. The city blocked streets for an Arts Festival at Memorial Park, with exhibits on recycling, sustainable design, green power and green building.I checked out one of the Eco-Home Tours. I loved Marti Coleman's shady rear garden ("yard" would be the wrong word, as the Coleman's don't have grass). Every corner invites relaxation or discovery. On a hot day, the Colemans don't need an air conditioner; their garden does the cooling. They've even got a tree house, and there's a hammock up there!
The edible front garden is a gathering spot for bees—thousands of them, without the least interest in stinging people. This might not be remarkable if we hadn't noticed a lack of bees around here lately. Colony Collapse Disorder, a huge potential danger facing our nation's crops, is quite noticeable in California. Scientists around the world are wondering what the deal is.
Perhaps they should study Marti Coleman's garden.
8 comments:
Lovely photo! I can see why the bees are attracted to this garden, from the sound of it. Glad to hear there are bees thriving somewhere, as I continue to read about the bee issue. (Are bees the new canaries in a coal mine?) The thought of lying in a hammock up in a tree house sounds like heaven though! And good for the Colemans for getting rid of their lawn!
At least somebody is attracting honeybees. I haven't even seen any in the clover this year. Neat photo.
Ah-Hah! That's where they all went! Pasadena!
I think Katie has a point about bees being the new canaries.
I hope you guys are far away from the wildfire I am hearing about today.
Good point about the coal mine canaries, Katie. It's certainly possible. There are many potential factors.
Rambling Round: we keep finding dead and dying ones in the yard or on the porch. I wish I could save them, and was glad to see them thriving at the Colemans' place. They inspired me to create a haven for bees at my house, and other visitors were saying the same thing yesterday.
USElaine: Ah-hah! Well, if we get enough, I'm sure we'll be happy to share them.
My home is actually close the fire, Jim, but far enough downhill that we're not in danger. I have friends uphill, though. I was thinking of going to take photos, but don't want to be in the way of the firefighters.
There is a shark in our vicinity and I just read about the wildfire near yours! Glad to know you are okay.
Puts in a ind to share - folks around here are amazed at my disposition toward insects in general.
While they all grab the pesticides or call in a service, I simply shrug and ignore them.
Not that I have them crawling all over my home, but if I see a spider or ants I don't bother them. The ants found my kitchen trash one day. I had neglected to take it out, scraps from last nights dinner. I just took out the trash and let them alone - soon enough they were gone, nothing left to hold their interest.
They were just doing their job, I can't really hold that against them.
I even have "gaurd bees" that patrol around my home - I think they are bumble bees - they don't seem to care about my coming and going, aside from flitting over to check me out...
Hi Yorokobi-
I'm not sure I share your love of ants, but your method obviously worked. I'm with you on the spiders, though. It's easy to just catch them and help them back to the out of doors. Everybody's happy.
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