Birds
and Bees
“Beauty
surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know
it.”
Rumi
My back yard is starting
to look like a scene from "Rama of the Jungle". When the dogs wade into the monkey grass, they practically disappear. My back yard has very little
grass, but it has loads of clover, violets, periwinkle, and a variety
of wild vines, like morning glory, honeysuckle and trumpet.
I
felt bad about this unkempt situation, until I listened to an
interview with an apiologist (scientist who studies bees). Bee
populations are down in America. Many, many cultivated hives have
died off, to the point that there's grave concern for crop failures
due to lack of pollinators. One reason is the pouring of pesticides on our lawns. Our seeds
are being treated with “neo-nics,” or synthetic nicotine, to
discourage insects from eating them, and that's translating into
plants that are contaminated. This is affecting birds as well as
bees. Apparently, just one treated seed contains enough poison to
kill a song bird.
Another
reason for the failure of bee colonies is our insistence on having no
flowering weeds in our lawns. There are fewer food sources for bees,
especially honey bees, who depend on nectar and pollen for their
diets. The scientists who are studying bees are asking people to
begin growing more flowering plants, especially wild flowers that
attract and feed bees.
Now,
I think of my weedy, viney back yard as a bee sanctuary! I've always
wondered why we consider some flowers weeds while others are deemed
desirable. Is a trumpet flower less beautiful than a petunia? Is
morning glory less wonderful than jasmine? This year, I'm only
cutting down vines that have attached themselves to my fig tree, or
my tomato plants, and I'm leaving the others for the bees. If you love birds
and bees as much as I do, consider doing the same.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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