Those attending the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) public workshop on "Your Sustainable Backyard: Pollinator Gardening" on Saturday, April 28 at the University of California, Davis, will, no doubt, leave with a better understanding of how we can all do our part to support healthy bee communities.
That's because entomologists, horticulturalists and design experts will be among the speakers. The event takes place in Room 101 of Giedt Hall.
"The workshop is designed both to inspire gardeners and equip them with all the necessary tools to provision pollinating insects in their own landscape," said workshop coordinator Melissa "Missy" Gable, program manager of CCUH. "Without the pollination services of European honey bees and native bees, what fruits and vegetables would be accessible to us?"
The UC Davis speaker line-up includes pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology, who will discuss "Bees 101: Species Diversity and Behavior"; pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology, "Importance of Pollinators and Conservation"; and Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture at the UC Davis Arboretum, who will cover "Bee Plants."
Vicki Wojcik, associate program manager of Pollinator Partnership will speak on "Pollinator Gardening: Design and Maintenance."
Welcoming the participants will be Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Dave Fujino, executive director of CCHU.
This workshop will end with something special--actually two things special: (1) a visit to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, and (2) a visit to the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive to see the pollinator demonstration beds and an opportunity to buy plants at a specially held sale inside the nursery.
The $45 registration includes parking, morning coffee/tea, scones and a gourmet boxed lunch. See registration site.
Attached Images:
Pollen-covered honey bee on brittlebush, Encelia californica (as identified by Ellen Zagory), in back of the UC Davis Lab Sciences Building. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Syrphid flies are pollinators, too. This one is on aloe, a flowering succulent, on the Storer Hall grounds, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)