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Post by Mumsey on Jul 9, 2021 18:19:17 GMT -5
claude. Could you put a big rock or brick on it when adverse weather is expected?
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Post by claude on Jul 11, 2021 5:24:57 GMT -5
Mumsey, believe it or not I always have a stone...large and heavy sitting in the bottom of the dish for the birds and bees to stand on when they use it to bathe or drink. It seems sturdy when I check it 🤷🏻♀️ The winds from the north are formidable. A cast iron umbrella stand cannot hold a closed fastened umbrella that is thru a wrought iron table...picks it up and tosses it...over the damn railing along w a large heavy Weber grill. I planted cedars and blue spruce on the north edge as a windbreak that are now over 30’ tall..it has made a difference but not much.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 11, 2021 10:05:17 GMT -5
claude, I used to keep a rock in the bird bath…just so the smaller birds could dip their toes in the water. Hubby removed it…he thought it hampered the birds’ backstroke. 🤣
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Post by binnylou on Sept 17, 2021 20:52:48 GMT -5
Though there’s been no bees through most of the growing season, when the Sedum Autumn Joy is blooming, the bumble bees…those black and yellow fuzzy big guys…show up. For the past week at least, the blooms are crawling with bees. In order for me to get to the dahlias, I pass next to a Sedum. The bees don’t even notice. They’re busy.
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Post by breezygardener on Sept 17, 2021 21:39:29 GMT -5
For the first time in, well, forever, we have yet to see one Honeybee on our property.
Too sad.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 17, 2021 21:57:22 GMT -5
That's terrible, breezygardener! What about other bees and pollinators - were the rest around? Mine were a little slow coming around this season, but there are large numbers of all of them this season.
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Post by martywny on Sept 18, 2021 5:24:09 GMT -5
This year I have seen more bees than ever before. I do have two hives out back but in general, populations seem to be way up. I am adding another hive body this weekend and want to clean up some of the weeds around the hives.
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Post by gianna on Sept 18, 2021 10:09:22 GMT -5
I used to keep a rock in the bird bath…just so the smaller birds could dip their toes in the water. Hubby removed it…he thought it hampered the birds’ backstroke. 🤣 When I had a deeper bird bath, I kept a stone in it too. It was tapered in height so birds of all sizes could use it any way they wished. The current bird bath is broader and shallower, but it needs refilling most days. It's right outside the window, and this year there is lots of activity, both drinking and bathing. Not the greatest planning, but it's near my seedling and lettuce growing area. Thank goodness for wire cages. As for honey bees, we are semi-surrounded by avocado and lemon orchards who keep hives. I can see in the distance some of the white boxes from across the small valley behind us. This year I've also grown more flowers and attracted many more bees and otehr pollinators. I had a bed of blooming buckwheat and in the mornings, the numbers of bees were amazing. The peppers in the bed adjacent to this has set more seeds too, perhaps because of all the bees. Some years there are also smarms of bees that fly over. And every decade or so there is a new hive that attempts to form in the concrete water meter box in front. The water dept hires a company to relocate them.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Sept 18, 2021 11:20:58 GMT -5
I found about half a dozen on the goldenrod volunteers on the South side of my house, right next to the driveway, and about 35 feet from a heavily traveled street. They were quite busy, and fascinating; I watched them for awhile but I don't think they even knew I was there. They were engrossed in visiting the goldenrod.
What I have noticed is the much larger size of spiders on outdoor webs. I steer clear of them.
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