flowers

Getting to Know Our Busy Friends the Bees

Peter Finch of Cedar Cottage Community Garden sent us this beautiful guest post to help us get to know our busy and friendly co-species the bees. If we didn’t have bees we wouldn’t have us it’s that simple. Peter Finch is one of the founders of the lovely forest garden under the skytrain and is training to become a local bee-keeper.

FEAR OF…..WHAT EXACTLY?

I am standing chest-high in wild meadow flowers in full bloom. Wonderful deep red, blue, indigo, pink, orange and white–fragrant in the still, warm air–and teeming with activity. Bees of all sizes are at work on the flowers, inches away from my face. A prickly sensation on my left arm alerts me to the arrival of a very large bumble bee stopping to catch her breath. I can feel the vibration, yet her wings aren’t moving; her abdomen pulses as if she is panting. She tentatively extends her tongue and tastes my arm, then launches back into the air again.

“Aren’t you afraid?” asks a woman standing on the nearby roadway. I realize she has been watching me for a few minutes. “No, of course not,” I reply. Yet in my mind I’m thinking “Well, actually, at some level I’m terrified–it’s like the sparks from a forge. The thought of burning my hands scares me, but I can understand the fascination of watching a blacksmith at work.”

Primal reactions are overcome by curiousity, distraction, knowledge, or any combination thereof.

Wild Flowers of the Catskills II

Wild Flowers of the Catskills II

St. John's Wort, Yarrow, Vetch, Ox-eye Daisy, Plantain, Milkweed, Thistle, Joe Pie Weed, Bluet, Rose and many more potent and helpful herbs abound in the alpine meadows of the famous pristine Catskills of New York. Having the opportunity to get to know these friendly herbs in this wild environmen ...

Urban Flowers 02 – Vancouver BC

Urban Flowers 02 – Vancouver BC

The gardeners of Vancouver BC create stunning gardens full of color. Gardens in this city have become a synthesis of the many cultures that have come together and now live side by side, sharing seeds and garden tips. These are a selection of some of my favorite flowers. ...

Wild Flowers of the Catskills I

Wild Flowers of the Catskills I

Yarrow, Vetch, Ox-eye Daisy, Plantain, Milkweed, Thistle, Joe Pie Weed, Indian Pipe, Bluet, Rose and many more potent and helpful herbs abound in the alpine meadows of the famous pristine Catskills of New York. Having the opportunity to get to know these friendly herbs in this wild environment ha ...

Urban Flowers 01: Vancouver BC

Urban Flowers 01: Vancouver BC

The gardeners of Vancouver BC create stunning gardens full of color. Gardens in this city have become a synthesis of the many cultures that have come together and now live side by side, sharing seeds and garden tips. These are a selection of some of my favorite flowers. ...

Van Dusen Gardens II

Van Dusen Gardens II

The Van Dusen Gardens are fantastic in spring, and other times of the year of course! Beautiful flowers in all colors and vibrant greens. A romantic lover's stroll. ...

Van Dusen Gardens I

Van Dusen Gardens I

The Van Dusen Gardens are fantastic in spring, and other times of the year of course! Beautiful flowers in all colors and vibrant greens. A romantic lover's stroll. ...