January Bee Group meeting - 2021

We're back at ECOSS for our first meeting of 2021!

We'll begin with What's Hapening in my Hive? at 1:30, followed by main meeting.

Guest speaker - Jane Stormer who will be speaking about how to design your garden so you have all year round flowers that bees can forage from.

I'm a wild gardener, landscape designer & consultant with a deep interest in the places like the Upper Yarra Valley where habitat and horticulture meet. I've always wanted bees, and as a horticulturalist asked myself the question: do I have enough forage in my garden to support a beehive and is it possible to design a Bee-longing Garden? We live in a relatively high rainfall area, and on rainy days bees cannot travel far to forage, so its important to provide opportunities close to bee hives.

Luckily there are a number of Australian botanical scientists who have been researching what plants bees love and their nectar and pollen loads based on the observations of apiarists in their local areas who have told them which flowering plants and trees the bees forage from most frequently. Over the past year, I have identified, and with the support of ECOSS, have grown and gathered a range of perennial plants which will flourish in this area.

In the interests of supporting local bee keepers I will be doing a talk with the Yarra Valley Bee Group on Sunday 31st January where I will talk about how to design your garden so you have all year round flowers that bees can forage from, and hope to learn more from local apiarists about even more local flowering plants that bees love.

Please come along and keep up to date with local conditions that effect your hive, connect with other beekeepers, share resources, improve your apiary skills and learn more about honeybee ecology.

REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR MASK

Meetings are held at ECOSS, 711 Old Warburton Road, Wesburn, in the newly renovated ‘Coop’ (past the old house, over the green, down the bottom). Everyone is welcome - gold coin donation appreciated.