Holly-B Apiary
P.O.Box 26
Wells,Maine 04090-0026
http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee
 
June 1, 1997, Sunday
        Section: Style Desk
 
 
        Music to a Gardener's Ears: Bzzzzzzz
 
 
        By Anne Raver
        The Sonoran Desert, with its ocotillos and agaves, might seem a
strange
        place for a New York gardener to find inspiration, but I returned
from a
        trip to Tucson, Ariz., fired up about pollinators. They need our
help.
        Two bug lovers, Dr. Stephen L. Buchmann, an entomologist at the Carl
        Hayden Bee Research Center, and Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan, the director
of
        science at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, both in Tucson, are the
        authors of ''The Forgotten Pollinators'' (Island Press, 1996). And
they
        have begun a campaign by the same name to increase awareness about
the
        sorry state of the world's bees, birds, bats, butterflies and
beetles
        (they have a web site, too: www.desert.net/museum/fp/).
 
        A gardener may not be able to single-handedly stop yet another
shopping
        mall from paving over the last meadow or forest in the neighborhood
or
        to cease the widespread use of pesticides. But one pollinators'
paradise
        may inspire others on the block, creating a little corridor of
plants
        for wildlife. And who knows: getting to know the bees that pollinate
        your squash patch may galvanize a little political action.
        ''If backyard bug watchers become engaged with the interactions they
see
        in their gardens,'' Dr. Nabhan writes, ''they may become stronger
        advocates for keeping highway medians herbicide-free, for assuring
that
        only biological control agents are used to manage pests on food
crops
        and for establishing corridors linking protected areas.''
        That's only one message in ''The Forgotten Pollinators,'' which
covers
        everything from how a moth lays eggs in the ovary of a yucca flower,
and
        then intentionally pollinates the same flower (to insure her
offspring's
        food supply), to the increase of pesticide use with the North
American
        Free Trade Agreement. The sheer weight of information is a bit
daunting,
        from mutualism (how one insect may depend on a single plant, and
vice
        versa, for its existence) to how many species are threatened. But
take
        it in stages, like the rufous hummingbird, which flies 2,000 miles
every
        year from central Mexico to Canada to breed. This bird is in
trouble,
        too, for the usual reasons: habitat destruction and pesticides.
        Hummingbird gardens and butterfly gardens are old hat, but if you
want
        to be on the cutting edge, how about planting a garden for bees?
Then at
        the next cocktail party you can casually say, ''The mason bees are
        nesting in the dead tree in my pollinator garden, really they are.''
I
        predict pollinator gardening will be hot in the Hamptons this
summer.
        But back to Tucson, where it was 100 degrees in late May, and the
rufous
        hummer had already high-tailed it up north. The nectarines and
apricots
        were hanging heavy on the trees in the desert garden at Dr. Nabhan's
        house, and his pomegranates were forming bright red balls on the
ends of
        the pollinated flowers, which hummingbirds love.
        ''Steve pointed out that rotting fruit was important to keeping
        butterflies around, so I put it in the birdbath,'' said Dr. Nabhan,
        firing a couple of overripe peaches into an old birdbath under a
        mesquite tree.
        Fruit trees, of course, are pollinated by bees, and not just
European
        honeybees. ''Honeybees are nasty competition for the native
pollinators
        -- because of their famous wiggle dance,'' he said. ''As soon as
they
        find a tree, they dance their brains out, and soon 40,000 to 50,000
        sisters are there -- tens of thousands of little mouths sucking up
the
        nectar.''
        This wiggle dance is like a map showing your neighbors how to get to
the
        free Ben & Jerry's.
        Wild bees, on the other hand, are basically solitary and have to
find
        food on their own. (Bumblebees are more sociable, Dr. Buchmann says.
        ''You hear little buzzes inside the hive,'' he said, ''but we don't
know
        what they're communicating.'')
        ''Everybody thinks about honeybees, but there are 5,000 species of
        native bees,'' Dr. Buchmann said. And they pollinate many crops far
more
        efficiently than the honeybee, which is an import from Europe.
        ''Blueberries, cranberries, eggplants, chilies, kiwis and tomatoes
are
        all buzz-pollinated,'' he said. The anthers, those doodads that hold
the
        pollen, ''look like saltshakers with two holes,'' he said. A female
        bumblebee grabs hold of the anther with her mandible. She ''curls
her
        body around it, and the pollen comes blasting out the holes,'' he
        continued, adding, ''It can harvest pollen five times faster than a
        honeybee.''
        About 30 percent of food crops are pollinated by bees, and no one
has
        ever tried to count the wild ones. But the honeybee population has
        dropped from 6 million to 1.9 million since 1950, Dr. Buchmann said.
The
        main causes, scientists say, are two kinds of mites, as well as
        pesticide use and harsh winters, which are also taking their toll on
the
        wild bees.
        Many flowers loved by hummingbirds and butterflies are also popular
with
        bees, and you can't go wrong if you choose natives from your region,
        which are rich in nectar and pollen and have evolved with local
insects.
 
        Dr. Nabhan's garden is full of ocotillos, mesquite and agave, which
        would be hard to grow in New York. But he also has oregano, clover,
        mustard, verbena, lantana, columbine, penstemons, wild gourds and
        squashes, passionflowers and chilies, to name a few. His buddleias
are
        natives of the Chihuahuan desert; his pomegranate trees are heirloom
        varieties of the Southwest. For the species that once thrived in
your
        area, call a native-plant society or nursery specializing in native
        plants.
        Bees are drawn to the bean or pea family, from snap peas to black
locust
        and redbud trees, and they love the Compositae family, including
        sunflowers, dandelions, thistles, asters, daisies and goldenrod.
Salvias
        and penstemons are favorites, too.
        Pollinator gardens could be consiousness-raising. When visitors to
the
        National Zoo in Washington were recently surveyed, Dr. Buchmann
said,
        three-quarters of them ''didn't know bees had to do with
pollination --
        they just saw bees as a threat.''
        He added: ''And pollen was not seen as sex cells for the plant. It
was
        associated with sneezing.''
        The West has a phobia about ''little creepy crawlies,'' he said,
adding:
        ''In China and Japan, people keep crickets in cages. They write
poetry
        about them. If a cricket started chirping in our house, we'd call
the
        exterminator or hit it with a shoe.''
        But try to control your fight-or-flight response the next time an
        inch-long carpenter bee -- Dr. Buchmann calls it the ''gentle
giant'' --
        hovers around your head. It is solitary, and it pollinates
everything
        from tomatoes to cotton. Give it a dead tree to dig into (don't
worry
        about your house; it likes untreated wood).
        You can also simulate a dead tree by drilling holes -- about 5/16
inches
        in diameter and five inches deep -- in a piece of soft wood and
hanging
        it in the shade. Mason bees, which use leaves and mud to build their
        nests, will pack the holes with eggs and pollen to feed their young.
And
        they'll pollinate your fruit trees, too.