Bee Haven to Open in California

A half-acre garden designed for bees and human visitors will open September 11, 2010 on the UC-Davis campus. There are already six million bees and 55 different species that frequent the garden. “We have bumblebees, carpenter bees, leaf cutters, borer bees, mason bees, sweat bees. It’s pretty incredible who we’ve found,” said Neil Williams, an assistant professor who works with native bees.

A garden design competition was held prior to the development, and the Sibbet Group, from Sausalito, CA won out of 30 submissions. Forty different plants were included in the winning design. Haagen-Dazs has donated $500,000 for bee research to UC-Davis and Pennsylvania State University. For their support of bees, the garden was named the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. The ice cream company focused on supporting bees, because they pollinate many plants used to flavor about half of their ice cream products.

“We’ll not only be providing a pollen and nectar source for the millions of bees on Bee Biology Road, but we will also be demonstrating the beauty and value of pollinator gardens,” said Melinda Borel, program manager at the California Center for Urban Horticulture.

Some of the plants in the bee garden are Basil, Eggplant, Honeysuckles, Mint, Roses, Red Sage, and Oregano. If you are interested in helping bees by planting a garden, here are some suggestions for plants that attract bees.

Bees around the world are in steep decline, a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. If bees continue disappearing, many plants will go unpollinated and agriculture could be impacted very negatively. A Cornell University research study estimated the value bees contribute to U.S. agriculture was $14.6 billion in the year 2000.

Image Credit: Sibbett Group

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Kamryn M.

9:39AM PDT on Oct 7, 2011

nice.

send a green star

9:10AM PDT on Oct 7, 2011

thanks.

Robert O.

12:21AM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

Wonderful. Thanks Jake.

12:19AM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

Brenda T.

9:28AM PDT on Jun 10, 2011

I love this idea!

Lynn C.

8:10AM PDT on Apr 13, 2011

Would love to visit this garden. It was good to read about Care2 members who deliberately plant something for our busy little friends. The more the merrier.

Teresa W.

6:25AM PDT on Apr 13, 2011

good news

Ria T.

7:39AM PDT on Apr 12, 2011

Touching and exciting to see good news in action. I really like the straight-forward discussion by this gentleman, and, as you know, we are inspired and heartened by kindness, even by others.

John S.

7:04AM PDT on Apr 12, 2011

Thanks.

Brigid C.

6:39AM PDT on Apr 12, 2011

This is facinating. I am so sorry to see the bees decline. They are such a valuable part of our world