All posts by Creative Woodcraft (Ian)

BEE BATH & BEYOND

Did you know bees need to drink water? They seek out shallow water sources like puddles and bee/bird baths.

You can help out our little pollinator friends (and a host of other wildlife) by adding a bee bath to your garden.

bee_bath

This Bee Bath from Creative Woodcraft is designed to hold a shallow bowl (included).

Bees are not known as good swimmers, so it really helps if you place a stone or something similar in your bee bath– so they have somewhere safe to perch while they drink.

Bees and other beneficial insects — ladybugs, butterflies, and predatory wasps — all need fresh water to drink.

Placing the bee bath in your garden. (Put it near “problem plants” — those that get aphids, for example — and the beneficial insects that come to drink will look after them.)

Refresh the water daily, adding just enough to evaporate by day’s end.

If you keep it full, and in the same location, word will spread and the bees will come and be frequent visitors. It may take a couple of weeks for bees to discover the water source, but one they do, they will never forget where it is.

The benefit to you is that if bees are coming to drink in your yard, they’ll do you the return favor of pollinating your garden.

 

Leafcutter Bee

Native Bees – NZ

Creative woodcraft is a specialist supplier of quality handcrafted solitary bee houses and other bee related products, endorsed by leading NZ entomologist.

Pollination Solutions for the Home Gardener – NZ’s only supplier of Leafcutter Bees

Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Web Manager, Mandy Herrick

As the mercury rises, the almighty insect kingdom is truly awakened – cicadas beat out their rambunctuous song, butterflies burst onto the scene and honey bees swarm in search of a new residence.

New Zealand has eight types of introduced bees that were brought here for their honey-making abilities or to aid in pollination. The large majority of our bees though are native (27 species).

Compared with our introduced honey bees – gregarious, social-gifted and flamboyantly dressed – our native bees can appear somewhat drab.
native_bees1-360x360

The majority of our bees are fitted out in a funereal colours – yes, mainly blacks and dark greys – rather than the hairy, lurid, stripy outfits of their Italian cousins. And these primitive bees nest alone in small tree holes or tunnels in the ground – not an elaborate labyrinth of nesting cells that are abuzz with industrious workers, gigantic, egg-laying queens and sperm-carrying drones.
Most of our bees go about their lives in a solitary manner – they’ll find a mate around some flowers – and then create a cell to accomodate their baby. They’ll provision it with pollen and nectar, and then lay their eggs.

So if you’re out an about this summer, look out for these wee bee holes (pictured). And although they don’t live communally, they often prefer the same type of ground (they’re rather fussy about this), so if you see series of pock marks in the ground, sit and wait a while to see if a bee clambers out of one of these holes.
Some of our bees choose to live underneath soft-loose sand which you’d think is rather foolish given its liability to cave in, however they come equipped with a sophisticated internal geo-mapping system that allows them to find their little bunker in the hard-packed sand underneath.

If you’re an enthusiast, and you’d like to spend a little time studying our bees, rest assured you won’t need a protective suit, because our bees don’t have the sting of a honey-bee. The sting is in fact an adapted ovipositor (or egg positioner) that allows workers bees to defend their patch. Our bees are patch-less, so these kind of elaborate defence mechanisms are not needed.

Our bees are key pollinators of our native plants, and some have the particular know-how to get at the nectar and pollen of some of our threatened explosive mistletoes, so creating suitable habitat is important .

That said, establishing a colony in your back-yard can sometimes be rather difficult if you have not provided suitable habitat– but there are some things that you can do to encourage them to become temporary visitors if not permanent ones:

  • First off, establish a patch of bare ground and furnish your garden with a good mass of flowers.
  • Consider providing a Solitary Bee House. These habitats are designed with a variety of nesting hole diameters to encourage a wide range of native and introduces species of bee. They are also designed for easy inspection and cleaning of the nesting tunnels allowing for many years of use.

And if you’re near a forest – make sure it’s filled with manuka trees – this is one their favorite foods. Then just wait, and watch for one of our skittish, black-suited bees to come your way.

www.creativewoodcraft.co.nz

Pollination Solutions for the Home Gardener - NZ’s only supplier of Leafcutter Bees

 

 

 

 

IMG_0151

Christmas Gifts For the Gardener

Looking for Garden Gifts? With our exclusive range of Unique Gifts for Gardeners you need look no further. Here are some suggestions from Creative Woodcraft.

BIRDS:

 Our bird products are designed to provide good homes and feeding options for their intended occupants and visitors! They also look great in any garden.blog

“Many of our products have been developed using the latest thinking from wildlife experts”

BEES: Leafcutter Bees – Gentle Bee

Amazing pollinator for summer food and flowers…

At Creative Woodcraft we provide a selection of products that will make raising Bumble Bees, Leafcutter Bees fun, easy and economical, so what are you waiting for . . . join us in our quest to encourage our native bees – and see your garden explode with blossoms as a result.

New Zealands only supplier of Leafcutter Bee Cocoons to the home gardener!

IMG_0151 

Check out our custom-designed hand-crafted bee habitats and make your garden bee-friendly.

BUTTERFLIES:

Our butterfly products offer migrating and hibernating butterflies a helping hand by providing them a place to live.

Buterfly Shelter Feeder

Lovely butterfly houses, feeders and shelters for your garden!

Nature says Thank You logo

The yearly life cycle of the bumblebee colony

This page, and the pages linked from it show the yearly life-cycle of bumblebee colony. You can either follow the life-cycle in chronological order by looking at all of the pages in turn, or you can skip to whatever part you are interested in by clicking the links on the left.

Life cycle stage 1
Life cycle stage 2
Life cycle stage 3
Life cycle stage 4
Bumble bee products

Bumble bee life cycle


The 4 stages in the life cycle of a bumblebee colony

Bumble bee promotion slide

      Check out our full range of Bumble Bee products designed to increase pollination for the New Zealand home gardener.

 

Acknowledgements: http://www.bumblebee.org