Updates

I finally got a decent photo of the crocuses that have begun to bloom. They weren't very cooperative on Bloom Day.








Artemis was posing nicely with the bonsais a couple of weeks ago.

I finally got in to quickly inspect and sugar-dust the bees yesterday. The Russians are doing best of all; they still have plenty of food, brood is doing pretty well, and they even have a bit of drone brood and one hatched drone. Isolde, my home-grown swarm queen, is doing poorly. There were some abandoned brood cells in the bottom box, so I opened them up for clean-up. She's essentially down to two occupied boxes. Boudicca & Freyja are doing pretty well, though all hives are suffering from the mites. For about 10 feet in front of the hives, there are many dead and dying bees. Many have poorly formed wings, an obvious sign of mite damage. Poor things; I really should squish them to hasten their deaths, but feel ghoulish about it. Today I should make up some syrup for all but the Russians. Food supplies are getting a bit low, despite the plum trees blooming furiously throughout town. I suppose I should also stage a coup, and combine Isolde's queendom with Freyja's. Maybe on the next good day.

A couple of weeks ago I was working to expand a planting bed so that I could move the hazel tree. I'd originally planted it far too close to the house after reading that they grew to only 6 or 8 feet high. That should have been in excess of 8 feet in radius. The job of digging up the hazel was the worst of it. I was working in close quarters, and trying to avoid puncturing our gas line. After a couple of days of digging and hacking roots, and pulling a back muscle, I got the blessed thing loose. Here's hoping it survives my efforts.

February Posies

Finally there are some flowers worth picking in the garden.

Some ipheons and grape hyacinth on the kitchen windowsill.

Daffodils, leucojum and paperwhites.

Early Spring Update

As I mentioned in yesterday's Bloom Day blog, we've been getting some wet and cold weather. Being unable to play in the garden, and uninspired to paint, I've finally decided that this would be a prime time to report on the bees.

Back in August, I was fussing about new queens. The one home-grown queen from the original hive had been replaced in a coup by one of the Minnesota Hygenics. Considering that Minnesota has a lot of Scandanavian blood, she wound up being named Freyja. To date, she's doing pretty well.

My swarm queen Isolde appeared to do well, so she remained on her throne. The second Minnesota queen found a home with another beek. Unfortunately, it appears that Isolde didn't mate all that well, and her colony is the weakest. It's not pitiful, but her hive's population is about 60 or 70% of the other three. Unless her numbers improve this spring, I think that another coup is in order when queens are again available.


For three weeks in the fall, I was off in New Zealand, missing some prime varroa mite control time. When I returned and inspected hives, I found that mite populations were building. I dusted with powdered sugar for many weeks, and seemed to get the mites under control. But after giving the bees (and mites) another break of a few weeks, I found that the mites were still going strong. Since mid-January, the weather has not been very good for opening hives, and I am nervous for my girls. There have been many dead brood on the landing boards, probably killed by mites feeding off them.

Even with their mite woes, I see a lot of bees flying about whenever there is a break in the weather. Often they are out when I think that they'd be snuggled up in the hive. There are a lot of plump pollen baskets coming in. On my most recent inspections, I saw a fair bit of new nectar in storage. So there's still hope for my girls.

Bloom Day February 15, 2009

It's been rainy and cold for a while, but flowers are still happening in my garden. It's a good thing I took these photos early in the day, because the clouds came back soon after. There are some new blooms since January, and some hangers-on. The "Christmas" rhody in the above "continuing blooms" composite (bottom row, center) has really burst out in the last week or two. The camelia (composite, 2nd row, 2nd from left) has also, though it never looks very good because of blossom rot.



The thyme-leafed fuchsia (above left) and primulas (below right) were blooming last month, but I didn't notice them for a few days. For some reason, the bees have a strong interest in the white hellebore (above right), but it doesn't seem to be in the nectar or pollen. Maybe propolis?







The apple tree got pruned shortly after January's Bloom Day. While I was up in the branches pruning the highest ones, bees kept zooming by, and some landed on me as if to take a break and say "hello". It's fascinating to watch the bees going out and coming in, especially from the top of a tree.