bees

Whether you call it Texas Tarragon, Mexican Mint Marigold, or Tagetes lucida, I call it an absolute beauty for fragrance, flavor, and color every South Texas Autumn! Known for its liquorish anise flavor, it makes the perfect sub for true tarragon that struggles to grow in our area. I love it just as much for the golden flowers that attract many butterflies and honey bees. Their bloom is best and most showy during the Fall season. Trim them early spring to keep tidy. Full to part sun average soil and water. No bugs or diseases. They are a breath of fresh sweet air every morning in my courtyard.

-Debbie

Last year I planted my hummingbird and butterfly garden with over 30 milkweed, Turks cap, passion vine and native lantana. It grew beautifully in the back corner of my yard, and I pretty much just left it alone. Since now is the time to prune, I rolled up my sleeves, got out my pruners and started to go to town. Oddly enough, as I was whacking back a lantana I noticed in my peripheral vision movement all around me. So I stopped pruning and sat down and started to meditate. After about five minutes of sitting still, I opened my eyes and was absolutely floored! Every bug I have ever seen in my life was there in my garden. There were honey bees and bumblebees, fritillary butterflies and big bold monarchs, assassin bugs, ladybugs galore, orb weaver and large wolf spiders, a praying mantis, mud-dobber wasps, horseflies, house flies and soil gnats. And about 150 monarch butterfly caterpillars! It was like an optical illusion. The more I sat still, the more I saw everything moving around me. Not only were there bugs, but there were toads, lizards, and a bold mockingbird that decided to land not five feet from me. Of course there were aphids and whitefly, but I watched as ladybugs flew down and began to munch them all up, and a praying mantis was going to town on the flies. It was absolutely astounding! All this life was in a 10 foot by 10 foot bed. If you have a section of your garden that you can let be pesticide free and 100% organic, please let it be! You’ll be amazed by what life does in the garden when you’re not looking.

-Marta

In South Texas, bees swarm to form new colonies April through July. Two of my landscapers were attacked yesterday, and stung over 200 times. But they are back at work today, with just a small residual amount of pain. So let’s talk about bees, and hopefully avoid that pain.
This is the time of year that it may pay to scout an area before doing yard work, or sending kids or pets out to play. Listen for buzzing, watch for numbers of bees flying in a straight line (usually to or from a hive). Swarms may form on house eaves or branches, or in brush piles. Hives may establish in tree hollows, brush, building walls, wood piles, or meter boxes. Swarms may be European bees (not so aggressive) or Africanized bees (very aggressive) but don’t try to distinguish which yourself. The potency of the individual sting is the same, it is the number of stings delivered that is different. Call an expert, such as South Texas Apiary, 361-299-2337, for diagnosis and removal. City of Corpus Christi Vector Control, 361-826-2489, will also respond to swarm sightings or attacks, and will do some exterminations if exposed, but no rescue and relocation of bees.

The safe zone that Africanized bees normally defend is initially 20’ to 40’ from the hive or swarm, but once agitated, they will follow and continue to attack a victim to half a mile. They are sensitive to vibrations (lawn mower or weedeater), dark clothing, and the smell of bananas! So don’t mow the lawn wearing a mink coat and waving a banana. They will key in on dark areas of the face, such as nostrils, eyes, and ears, so if attacked, run fast and far (over ½ mile), protect your face if possible, find an enclosed space such as car or building if close. Better to be stung by the 20 bees that followed you into the garage than the 2000 bees that are right behind them. Do not stop at a water faucet and attempt to wash them off, the attack will continue, and people have died because they did not continue to run or find a safe haven. Flailing your arms or smashing bees will only attract more bees, so just run!

Less than 1% of the population is allergic to bee stings, so most adults can suffer over 1000 stings before their life is in danger, less for children and the elderly. The stingers continue to pump venom into the skin for 1 minute after the initial sting, so removing the stingers by scraping with credit card, fingernail, or knife should be done as soon as you can safely stop running. If you see a healthy adult being attacked, do not approach them, encourage them to keep running. You cannot stop the bees from attacking them, you will just bring more bees attacking you. Follow them at a distance, and aid them once the attack has ceased due to shelter or distance. A 2% mix of dishwashing liquid in water, sprayed over a victim, will kill any remaining bees, and remove the attack chemical signal the victim has been marked with. Removing clothing will remove many stingers, scrape away the rest, and Benadryl will likely be indicated, but if stings are numerous, seek medical attention, as steroids and anti-nausea medications may provide further relief.

-James

[vc_row no_margin=”true” padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px” bg_video=”” class=”” style=””][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][text_output]

Hope Pettibon, the 2016 Texas Honey Queen, will speak with local gardeners on Friday, August 5, 2016 at 4 PM at Gill Nursery 2810 Airline Rd. She will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps ordinary gardeners can take to benefit directly from honeybees. Local gardeners are encouraged to bring questions about how to maximize the use of honeybees in our area and improve the performance of their own garden.

The Texas Honey Queen is the official representative of the Texas Beekeepers Association. She promotes beekeepers and beekeeping across the state. Hope lives in the DFW area on a small ranch with her 10 siblings and parents. Hope served as the CCHBA 2014 Honey Princess, and CCHBA 2015 Honey Queen. She loves to spend her time outside gardening, farming, and has helped her family raise honey bees since 2004. Recently, her honey won 3rd place in the black jar tasting contest at the Texas State Fair. Hope is currently attending a one year Bible college in south Texas and has future aspirations to be an EMT. During her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the piano, cooking, and crafts.

The Coastal Bend Beekeepers is the local arm of the TBA and conducts regular meetings that provide presentations on bees and beekeeping. Their members range from backyard beekeepers to commercial honey producers. You can find their members at Garden Clubs and Farmer’s Markets across the area. Their meetings are always free and open to the public.

[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row inner_container=”true” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” border=”all” bg_color=”#fff8dd” bg_video=”” class=”” style=””][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][text_output]

Join Us At Our Airline Store!

“All About Honeybees”

presented by Hope Pettibon, 2016 Texas Honeybee Queen

Friday August 5^th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!

Hope will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps we can take to benefit directly from honeybees in our area. Questions are always welcome!

[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Mexican Flame Vine is a wonderful vine with a long blooming period until the first good frost. It has deep green leaves back-dropping beautiful orange daisy flowers. Very easy to grow in full sun to part shade with little to no serious pest issues. It is considered the best nectar vine for Monarch butterflies. It is also one of the best butterfly plants attracting Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Gulf fritillaries, Hairstreaks, Painted ladies, Pipevine swallowtails, Skippers, Sulphurs, Queens, Zebra Longwings and more. It also attracts hummingbirds, and is a pollinator plus plant attracting bumble bees and honey bees. It can also be grown in a pot on a small trellis or tomato cage for support. We have one next to our office building. It is a great addition to any sunny landscape.

DeAnna

Growing Fresh Food Part I, Part II

Photos from Debbie’s Last Fall Veggie Garden

We talked about watering and fertilizing last week. Now the fun stuff – watching your garden grow! Each day as you walk the garden, keep an eye out for seedlings emerging and harmful insects and disease, especially as your veggies grow.

Now I must tell you that there will be lots of insects in your garden, most of which are not harmful and many beneficial. Spiders, bees, ladybugs, lacewings, are your garden helpers eating many of the harmful insects. Toads, lizards, and even wasps will prey upon the nuisance critters. So be careful and use caution when using insecticides or fungicides.

In the multitude of choices, I always recommend an organic or non-chemical approach to start. Most common issues are caterpillars, aphids, spider mites, & stink bugs. These are easily controlled with organic products like Thuricide for caterpillars, Neem Oil for aphids, and Spinosad for stink bugs. Serenade is a natural fungicide that controls things like powdery mildew on squash, blights on tomatoes, and black spot on berry plants. A light application of Nature’s Blend around your plants will suppress fungus spores that can splash onto the leaves. Snails and pill bugs (rollie pollies) can be controlled with Snail & Slug Bait or a pan of beer. Of course, You can always be the control….squish!

Nature happens in your garden; lots of good and some not so good but don’t angst too much. It’s ok to have a few bad bugs and few marred leaves. Pick them off, throw them out and treat if necessary. When in doubt, bring us a sample of what’s happening and we’ll help you with the best solution for your situation!

Happy Growing!

-Debbie

Dennis Gray with the Coastal Bend Beekeeper’s Association reminded us this week that Texas Sage plants are one of our local bees main source of food this time of year.

Some of the cultivars we carry are Greencloud Texas Sage, Desperado Sage, Silverado Sage & Rio Bravo Sage. Debbie just ordered some more in the week and they’re pretty!

Image.

-Sally

You may have asked yourself at some point in your botanical endeavors, what makes the plant world go around, especially for blooming plants?

Bees are the answer, and are undeniably the most important insect on the planet! They allow us to enjoy all the bounty of our vegetable garden, the bounty of our fruit bearing plants and all the colorful flowers of our landscape. Bees primarily carry out the pollination process, and the impact alone involved in them landing on a flower will sometimes help to start that cycle. Bees harvest pollen by gathering it on their backs and will transport it from one flower to another. This is critical for vegetables like squash, which have both male and female flowers.

To attract bees, you guessed it, you will need flowers. Flat or shallow blossoms like Zinnias, Salvias, Daisies and Asters will attract the largest variety of bees. I’ve found through my experience that bees also love Magic Mountain Basil. Unlike your other basils, you’ll want to keep the flowers on this one. There are many other flowering plants you can choose from and here at Gills, we have most of them in stock, readily available.

If you are running out of room in your garden like I have, you can also consider this alternative: I have found that if you go out and tap all the blooms of your vegetables or fruit bearing plants with your finger, you can transport pollen the very same way. So the next time you get scared when you see a bee, don’t be. We probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them. Bee friendly!

-Matt Pinkerton

bees

“All About Honeybees”

presented by Hope Pettibon, 2016 Texas Honeybee Queen

Friday August 5th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!

Footer

Friday August 5^th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!