The Pollinator Partnership is proud to announce that 22 - 28 June 2008 will be celebrated as the 2nd Annual National Pollinator Week.

Due to the enormous success of National Pollinator Week 2007, officially declared by the U.S. Senate (S.Res. 580) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Pollinator Partnership has received requests from all over the continent to expand on this year’s festivities and events.

Informational resources are available, free, to help the general public learn more about the vital role of pollinators in our world food supply.

The Pollinator Garden Wheel, for example, is one of several colourful and engaging resources “aimed at generating a more active gardening population, aware of the importance of pollinators –- the birds, bees, bats, butterflies, beetles, and other animals that enable the reproduction of 85% of flowering plants and are responsible for as much as one-third of our food supply.”

It is available without charge as a colour PDF file to download and print out — an excellent tool for teachers and home-schooling parents, as well as for gardeners.

Visit Pollinator.org for more information about Pollinator Week 2008 and pollination, the garden wheel, and a variety of other free handouts.

OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health Bee Research Laboratory) and Apimondia has just announced an international symposium on the Diagnosis and Control of Bee Diseases, to be held in Freiberg, Germany, on 26 and 28 August 2008. The deadline for abstract submission is 1 May 2008.

The spreading of diseases due to the world-wide transport of bees and bee products represents an increasing problem. The responsible authorities in the individual countries are continuously confronted with new clinical pictures and pathogen agents. The laboratories charged with the diagnosis of bee diseases are therefore bound to continue adapting and modernising their methods.

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Since 1987, a research group at the University of California has been documenting bee diversity and bee frequencies on wild California plants. The research showed that bees have definite preferences among plants on which to forage for pollen and nectar — regardless of whether the plants are native to the area or exotic imports.

The experimental Urban Bee Garden on the Berkeley campus now serves as an outreach tool, helping gardeners, teachers, and other urban dwellers to plan and plant their own gardens that will attract bees and other pollinators. Its companion Urban Bee Gardens website brings a wealth of knowldge to beekeepers and gardeners alike.

Although the bee-friendly plant list is slanted, naturally, toward the climate of California and will need a bit of adjustment for other climates, the general guidelines make a solid starting point for designing a bee-friendly garden of your own.

There are many factors that make a garden attractive to bees other than the flowers it contains. Our research has shown that bees are more strongly attracted to gardens with a greater diversity of bee-friendly flowers. In addition, simple things like the layout and light exposure of your garden can have a huge effect on the number and variety of bees it attracts. Continue on to learn more about the non-planting-related things you can do to make your garden a veritable bee Mecca.

Peter Mewett, Ontario, is taking orders now for Carniolan and Italian queens to be imported in April and May 2008 — here are the details that he has circulated. For further information, contact Peter at the address and phone numbers given below:

This year, I will be importing queens from both Australia and Chile. My Australian suppliers, Taylor and Dewar, will have both Italian and Carniolan stock available.

My supplier from Chile is Agrovivo, a 650 million dollar agriculture/food company. They have been in the honey business for over 50 years. This year they are exporting only Carniolan stock of which 2200 is available to me. This stock is imported annually from Austria and performance tested during the first year. Selection is made for breeders for the second year and it is the daughters of these breeders that will be available to us. These queens can be available in battery boxes of 100 if you wish. Colonies have been overwintered in the mountains in Chile which should attest favorably to their ability to winter in our climate.

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Statistics Canada has released its 2007 report on Production and Value of Honey and Maple Products.

• Canadian honey production in 2007 was 61.4 million pounds, down by more than 40% than 2006’s record production of over 100 million pounds.
• Most provinces pointed to higher than normal winter losses for the drop in production, though other factors such as weather, pests and availability of nectar sources also affected honey production.
• Yields were reduced to 111 pounds of honey per hive, the lowest in 15 years.

Visit the Statistics Canada website for highlights of the annual honey survey and statistical tables.