Recently in Missouri Nature Category

Bet you can guess what my family and friends are getting for Christmas this year.

It's not just any honey - it's my first batch, successfully harvested and bottled in spite of all I didn't know about what I was doing!

According to the IRS, harvesting honey officially makes me a "bee farmer" and, be still my heart, requires that I fill out a new tax schedule.

You'd think I would be a honey farmer since what I harvest is not bees but I'm not about to argue.

It does explain one of the comments I heard a couple of years ago at a Mid-Missouri Beekeepers Association meeting. The experienced backyard beekeeper said raising bees was "just like raising cattle only the guy who spends $10,000 on a bull is not as hurt as a beekeeper loosing a queen."

Can you find the queen in this photo? She's bigger than the rest....

The queen is the only egg-layer in the colony and without her, the colony is literally lost. Whereas a worker bee lives only for 45 days, a queen bee can live 4-5 years, assuming nothing untoward happens to her, and she sets the tone for the colony's production, and success.

I lost a couple of queens this past year; no one is sure why. My well-intentioned experiment of letting the bees raise their own queen after the first one disappeared resulted only in a wax moth infestation, which I had to try to manually clean out once a week. Wax moths are sold by the pound in bird food catalogs but they look like wriggling Jabba the Huts and are amazingly destructive for being so tiny.

I didn't have much luck with the second queen, she died on the way to the hive.
 
The third one, I hope, is wintering over nicely with the rest of the all-female colony. By now worker bees have found and tossed out the male bees, or drones, to reduce colony numbers so they can bunch up in the center of the hive and survive eating their own honey stores. The boy bees are escorted out because they do nothing more than wait to mate with the queen; the colony will grow new drones when spring comes.

I didn't cook or any way alter my honey; it's the way it came out of the hive, which means it may become cloudy from pollen.

If it's kept in temperatures below 70F, it may also crystalize on the bottom - proof that it's unpasteurized, real honey but a new concept for some people used to imported, diluted and processed honey.

Cooking removes all good enzymes.

I also added honey comb to my honey bottles. There's something intriguing about seeing a piece of the perfectly-created comb bees make floating in honey - and it's a delicious treat, too.

To help my bees make it through winter, I added hive top feeders so I can easily give them sugar water, or a little honey, every few weeks. This way they can move in and out of the feeders from inside the hive, which means less chance their little delicate wings will freeze from exposure.

I also added insulation to the hives, duct-taping 2-inch wide styrofoam pieces and leaving openings at the front, and at the top, of the back of the hives.

I was feeling pretty good about the insulation until my handyman said two scrappers had been in the neighborhood asking if I had two old refrigerators I wanted hauled off.

Reminded me of the days when I was on the City Council and the city would periodically get reports I was growing grass - the green, lawn kind - over the 12-inch maximum. It only took the city one visit to my garden to see I don't believe, nor do I grow grass - but it became an early warning system that one of my votes had ticked someone off.

Well, part of me hopes word does get around that besides bees, I'm now planting old kitchen appliances. It's a great way to keep the neighborhood watch on its toes!

Here's to you having an equally sweet holiday with family and friends - Merry Christmas!












Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a master gardener and writes about gardening in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

PS the queen honeybee is the upper left hand corner of the photo, darker and bigger than the rest!

With temperatures dropping, there's another garden-related chore I forgot to mention: wildlife-proofing your home.

Start with checking attics, basements, gutters and garage doors for any small openings or warm spots squirrels, mice and birds might use for shelter. If you store seeds in your garage, that's an invitation for wildlife to break in, especially if winter is challenging and their garden food sources are frozen.

Storing sunflower and other bird seeds in metal garbage cans keeps wildlife out of seeds and helps keep seeds fresh until they're consumed.

Years ago, I also learned to wait to remove birdhouses until after the first frost in case wasps have moved in. I also store birdhouses in my garage with the opening facing the wall so birds aren't encouraged to shop for real estate early in the season.

If you find a possible wildlife hiding spot but aren't sure if there's something in the spot, stuff it with wadded paper and watch it for several days. If the paper hasn't moved, then seal the area up. If the paper moved, then there's a good chance something is using the space.

Attract wildlife out of the space with food nearby in a trap so you can relocate them.

If you have Eastern Japanese beetles coming inside - they look like ladybugs but are green,  orange, yellow and rust-colored - don't squish them, they stain and have a very strong, pungent order. Use a broom or vacuum cleaner to gently knock them off walls, then move them outside away from your house.

If you're using firewood, make sure to stack it away from your house as well.

Even though I do my fall wildlife checks around the house, I generally miss some, especially after bringing deck plants inside. There's usually a lizard, praying mantis or tree frog that ends up on a curtain or door jam, or I'll spot a cat following something moving across the floor. It doesn't take much to invite the visitors back outside.

Several weeks ago, I found a little visitor in the corner of my living room. He must have come in the night before because I recall my cats hanging out in the basement and not coming when I called them, a sure sign they're up to something.

Grabbing a kitchen towel and fully expecting the mouse to jump when I approached it, I was surprised it walked into my hand and promptly fell asleep.

At first I thought maybe it was injured but there were no marks or apparent injuries. After a wift of cheese woke it up long enough to inhale the food, it curled back up to sleep so I tucked the towel under a garden bush away from the house.

Guess dodging cats for 14 hours can be exhausting!












Charlotte is a Master Gardener and writes about  her garden, honeybees and mice,  at her blog Gardening to Distraction.

Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

Balboa the squirrel just walked by with another love apple in his mouth.

We met under a sofa cover in my den a couple of years ago when he was
still a baby.

He inadvertently spent a weekend closed up in my house.

He used to periodically walk into the den when I left the door open for my
cats and, this particular weekend, I must have missed him sneaking in.

The house looked like they had had quite a party; lamps and books knocked over everywhere.  A trail of  empty sunflower seeds gave him away, and he reluctantly moved back outside with the encouragement of a broom.

Balboa still periodically peeks into the den through the glass door and chatters at me when I'm out on the deck,  calmly helping himself to green pears and most recently, cherry tomatoes.

Tomatoes are originally from South America via Europe. The French perpetuated the charming superstition that people who ate tomatoes fell in love and gave them the nickname "pomme d'amour" or "love apples." 

Although scientifically a fruit, the US Supreme court in 1887 ruled tomatoes were a vegetable and subject to an import tariff with other fruits of the vine like beans, peans and cucumbers.

I've noticed my ripening tomatoes this year need a little help. Because of record hot temperatures, they've either not produced fruit or are ripening unevenly with green patches.
 

I forego buying tomatoes over winter because they are picked so early and so green, they are tasteless. 

By mid-summer, I'm more than ready to add delicious home grown tomatoes to my salads.

They're certainly not as perfect as grocery store tomatoes but there's an easy way to get them ready.

I pop them into a brown bag with an apple, clip the bag top closed, and check the bag every day until the whole tomato is red.

One of my neighbors is also growing tomato plants in his backyard but he's having issues with stink bugs.

I planted marigolds around my tomato plants; a wonderful, easy to grow annual that keeps bad bugs away and that bloom continuously even through record hot weather.

Frankly I don't get excited about holes in plant leaves or seeing bugs in my garden. I want ladybugs, praying mantis and birds around; they are natural predators to the more damaging bugs.

Another friend recently told me he learned to spread corn starch with a fan over his vegetables, a great natural way to discourage bugs from taking the first bite out of your homegrown produce.

In the years I haven't added marigolds, I've used a homemade dormant oil spray:

Hot pepper concentrate
1 unpeeled onion
1 unpeeled head of garlic
1 TBS cayenne pepper
3 pints of water

Use gloves to mix. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. Store in refrigerator for 6 weeks or so. Dilute 1 TBSP with 1 pint water. Add dish soap to better stick on leaves. Apply with a spray bottle. Re-apply every other day or so.

Sorry, it doesn't work on squirrels. Balboa seems to think it's a great salad dressing!













Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill
gardening to distraction. Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

It's easy to see how people can confuse this little Hummingbird Clear Wing Moth with a baby hummingbird.

Hummingbird Clear Wing Moths make a buzzing sound with its wings, similar to that of a hummingbird.

Like hummingbirds, Hummingbird Clear Wing Moths fly in a quick, darting manner, hovering over flowers while sipping nectar. Although this photo is not clear, I like it because it shows the hummingbird moth's wing in action.

 

The first time I mentioned "bee bars" to fellow beekeepers, I got very polite but definitely blank stares.

"Bee bars" are what I call sugar water feeding stations I've set up around my garden to keep my "girls" fed, and busy in this stifling weather.

Record hot temperatures make  it challenging for honeybees to find pollen. Once temperatures are over 90F, plants go into survivor mode, leaving honeybees with little to no pollen to pack back to the hive for food.

To make it through this slump, honeybees may eat their stored honey, which may leave them short to survive winter; or they'll raid the extra honey they've produced, for which I have a few plans myself.

I didn't know this last year when over Labor Day weekend,  I noticed a few honeybees checking out my deck plants and hummingbird feeders.

Still a little tenuous about being around them, I made a few modifications to hummingbird feeders so honeybees could easily, and safely, get to sugar water.

I had initially added two hives to my garden for pollination but I had yet to see any honeybees among my vegetables.

To guide the bees from one side of the house to my "toy," raised bed garden, I also sprayed my deck plants with sugar water; then set up feeders guiding them across the house.

It was a blast being with the bees.

They're adorable as they settle into the sugar water to drink, their hind quarters moving up and down in unison.

I also fed them in my hand, watching them chase each other and dip into the sugar water in flight.

I wasn't stung once, even though they at times would envelop my arm carrying a pitcher of sugar water, or buzz around me in the garden to let me know the "bee bar" was empty.

This year, I found hummingbird feeders with slits bees can easily access.

I also developed "bee pools" on top of my rain barrels.

After adding rocks and twigs where bees can land, I fill rain barrel tops with sugar water and then sit back to watch what shows up.

Besides honeybees, I've seen black and white wasps; sweat bees; carpenter bees; ants; bumble bees; several other wild bees I'm still trying to identify; black swallowtail butterflies, and three baby raccoons.

The last visitors show up after dark so I try to remember to store feeders inside my outside grill or they take the feeders apart. (Yes, bees sneak into the grill to find the feeders, especially early in the morning.)

Every once in awhile, a hummingbird will show up, hover around the bee-covered feeder and then take off.

I have a couple hummingbird feeders set up in front of the house in shade,  where hummingbirds can get a drink in peace.

Feeding honeybees is a common beekeeping practice, usually done to give honeybees an early start, or to tie honeybees over when there may be a pollen shortage.

Commercial beekeepers have feeders they place on top of hives; there's also a feeder where a jar goes into the hive entrance to feed less expensive corn syrup.

I suppose that's more efficient but I prefer to think of my short-lived bees as free-ranging, flying around the garden enjoying being bees and allowing me to watch them up close.

Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill gardening to distraction.

If you enjoy watching hummingbirds, its easy to plant flowers that will bring them, and keep them, around your garden.

I have a number of deck pots full of plants specifically for hummingbirds, including various colors of salvia, which look like tiny hummingbirds, and petunias, all in a range of hummingbird favorite colors of red, pink and purple.

Don't these red salvia look like tiny hummers?

Hummingbirds are also very fond of single-blossom tropical hibiscus, which are native to hummingbirds summer grounds in Brazil. Since hummingbirds use their long tongues to lick, single blossoms are easier for them to access nectar.

There are also a number of Missouri wildflowers that I've personally seen attract hummingbirds,  including bee balm, columbine, purple coneflower and, I hear, indian paintbrush, something I have yet to successfully grow from seed but I'm still trying.

Hummingbirds also enjoy coral bells, fuchsia, honeysuckle,  russian sage, purple coneflowers and phlox.

If I had to choose only one flower to plant for hummingbirds,  it would be basic pink phlox. Once these perennials start blooming, they seem to maintain flowers the entire growing season, attracting a variety of not only hummingbirds but  a wide range of butterflies and hummer moths, often confused for baby hummingbirds.

If you don't have room for a lot of these plants, and still want to attract hummingbirds,  hang a hummingbird feeder from a tree tropical hibiscus.

There are a number of hummingbird feeders available on the market.

I recommend plastic ones so they don't break when raccoons take a drink, or two...

To make hummingbird sugar water, mix 1 part sugar to 4 parts water - no need to add red food coloring - and replace every few days, especially if the temperature is hot.  Don't wash hummingbird feeder with soap; use only hot water.

By offering both plants and sugar water, you are sure to attract these amazing birds into your garden!












Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill gardening to distraction.

Nationwide figures are in.

According to US Department of Agriculture, beekeepers lost about 30 percent of their hives last winter.

Although there are a number of theories why honeybees are dying in record numbers - one out of every three fruit or vegetable we eat is courtesy of honeybee pollination - not having enough good pollen sources is sometimes mentioned as one of the factors.According to US Department of Agriculture, beekeepers lost about 1/3 of their hives last winter.

So last year, after getting my two honeybee hives settled in, I thought I would find a list of favorite honeybee plants and start adding them to my garden.

It wasn't that easy.

First, honeybees don't dart around. Once they find a pollen source, they farm one area and even share the location with other honeybees through a little dance. They may also  travel up to 1.5 to 2 miles to locate pollen, so to produce a certain flavored honey, honeybees have to be given access to 8,000 acres of just one crop.

Honeybees also have color preference.

They  prefer blue and yellow flowers, as opposed to hummingbirds and butterflies, who prefer flowers in the pink to purple range.

 That explains why dandelions are a favorite early, sometimes first spring honeybee pollen source, as well as fall's yellow wildflower goldenrod and my hummingbird feeders full of sugar water.

According to "The Hive and the Honey Bee" by Dadant and Sons, the following are favorite honeybee flowers:

Alfalfa; Asters; Basil; Blackberry; Button Bush; Catnip; Chickweed; Chicory; Red and White Clover; Coneflower; Dandelion; Goldenrod; Honeysuckle; Locust; Milkweed; (yikes) Poison Ivy and Poison Oak; Privet: Redbud; Sage;  Sumac; Thyme; Willow and Yellow Rocket.

In terms of fruits and vegetables, honeybees are also fond of Cantaloupe; Cucumber; Gourds: Melon; Pumpkin; Soybeans: Lima Beans; Squash. Apples; Apricot; Cherry; Peach; Plums and (photo) Pears.

I have to confess, when my garden was up for "inspection" last May before my two beehives arrived, I was very nervous. I knew not using pesticides over the years was good, but I couldn't imagine what else honeybees would need besides a good source of pollen.

Turns out a source of water is important, and honeybees don't particularly like clean water; they're attracted to water with a little taste to it, like leaves.

Honeybees also need a spot where hives are protected from weather elements but still have a clear flight path. The idea is to minimize cold winds getting into hive entrances; bee wings will freeze at certain temperatures.

So far, my honeybee hives seem to be doing well. May-July is the peak of honey-making, and one of my hives is doing exceptionally well.

The hive named after Mildred, my grandmother, has one super full of gorgeous yellow gold honey, a second super half full and I added a third one last weekend.

I wasn't sure how the bees would react to having two top, honeybee full floors, or supers,  moved to make room for a third one. Except for raising the noise level in the hive when I applied smoke to gently move them down into the hive, the process went smoothly.

The new super is designed to help bees produce easy-to-remove comb honey. I'm not sure I put them together correctly but that's part of the adventure!











Charlotte is a Master Gardener writing her blog, and a weekly newspaper column, on a MO hill Gardening to Distraction.
 

There sure are more than enough - a friend says they sound like alien spacecraft - but I'm not ready to eat periodical cicadas.

These colorful insects are a sure sign of a Missouri summer and are different from yearly "Dog Day" Cicadas because they are smaller, have red eyes as opposed to green-black ones, and, well - show up for a "date" for a few weeks only every 13 years, although there will be years like 2219 when both 13-year AND 17-year cicadas will show up at the same time. Can you just imagine the noise level then?

Cicadas are harmless; they neither bite nor sting. They are not venomous, and there is no evidence that they transmit diseases although a couple of friends allege cicadas attract predators like ravenous snakes who may mistake my toes for the insects.

One of these friends also thinks snakes will grow so big from eating cicadas they will swallow my cats whole. She's not wrong that cicadas show up in numbers at the same time to throw off predators but they won't take my 20 lbs cat Bob in one bite; may take at least two.

Periodical cicadas are not locust. They do belong to the same family as milipedes, centipedes and shrimp.

Periodical cicadas spring intact from their grub stage, leaving an interesting shell still clinging to plants.

Male periodical cicadas are the ones who make all the music, flexing their bellies to generate a unique sound that can rival overhead jets but is music to a particular female cicada's ears.

Periodical cicadas wings with orange veins filter ultraviolet light; when you put a wing on your skin, the area covered by the wing won't tan.

In many cultures, people do eat cicadas. Ancient Greeks considered cicadas a delicacy. Many Native American tribes ate cicadas both before, and after, European colonists arrived.

I also found a reference in the June 2, 1902 Cincinnati Enquirer society section about a party where cicada-rhubarb pie was served. For one pie it takes 4 cups of cicadas, wings removed, sprinkled over rhubarb pieces, before baking.

I'm not advocating eating cicadas, there now are health rules. A Columbia, MO restaurant this spring sold out of Cicada Ice Cream, made with chocolate-dipped cicadas; then was advised by the health department not to make any more.

Periodical cicadas add a lot to a garden's natural community. Their sheer numbers as grubs areate soil as they tunnel through to the surface. Fully grown, their shells add nitrogen, making them a great compost additive. Their abundance every decade or so gives birds, and other wildlife including moles, wild turkeys and my cats, an extra food source.

My cats find the insects coming in through the fireplace chute and I try to keep them from eating them but I miss some. I've also heard dogs have been sick from eating them, but my cats seem ok, so far. They need bulk in case they come across one of those giant, hungry cat-eating snakes.

If you don't want to deep fry cicadas and dip them in cocktail sauce, remember periodical cicadas make great fishing bait!
















Charlotte is a Master Gardener and writes about her garden, and sometimes about her cats, at her blog Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill.

One of the larger but harmless garden bees is the carpenter bee.

About as big as a bumble bee, these large, black solitary bees flit from flower to flower with acrobatic grace, moving quickly, and sometimes dizzily, until they find a place to light.

This carpenter bee spies a nice grove of Missouri wildflowers Virginia Cowslip, or Bluebells.

I'm guessing these lovely wildflowers would look like trees to a carpenter bee...

Marble-sized hail pellets were striking my house close to midnight May 12,2011 as winds ripped through trees, shredding leaves and deck plants.

What didn't occur to me at the time was this late spring storm was also killing some of my honeybees.

My friend Leona called this our "blackberry winter," one of a number of late spring cold spells we get in mid-Missouri before danger of frost is gone.

Blackberry winter refers to the spring period when blackberries are in bloom, usually mid to late April through May.

Here's how my deck looked Friday morning, after the storm.

The hail storm also killed some of my "mutt" honeybees raised by Don Moore, St. James, who hybridizes and sells then to new backyard beekeepers like me. It's always best to buy, and raise, local honeybees.

Honeybees are tidy housekeepers, flying outside instead of using the hive as a bathroom. 

Gertrude hive, facing southwest with a tree about 4 feet from the entrance, only lost a few honeybees. I imagine these honeybees were on their way in or out of the hive when the storm hit.

This is the lower "porch" in front of the hive after the storm: