Rutgers Master Gardeners of Burlington County Blog

By Bonnie McNamee  Native Plants and Wildflowers - Many non-native plants and ornamentals provide very little nectar. By planting a variety of natives and wildflowers in a range of colors that bloom from spring through fall, you will attract more bees. Planting natives and wildflowers is a good way to start. Nearly any sunny spot in the garden is ideal for growing these plants because they are already well adapted to your area.   While there are many plants to choose from to attract bees and also butterflies, some well-known and readily available varieties are: Black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed, blazing star, Joe-Pye weed, aster, coneflower, blanket flower, daylily, daisy, hyssop, black and blue salvia, and goldenrod. While bees mostly prefer single flowering varieties the bumblebee has a long throat and is far more efficient and is able to vibrate pollen from high up in the flowers, a behavior the honeybee lacks. A rare plant called monkshood ( Aconitum species) depends ent

By Bonnie McNamee  Bumblebees are native, large furry bees. Bombus is Latin for “buzzing” or “deep roar”. They are often black and yellow but can have white, red or orange hairs. Species in this genus have very similar body shapes, but can be distinguished locally by their color patterns. They are social bees. The females store collected pollen in specialized corbiculae or “pollen baskets,” smooth, bowl-shaped structures ringed with long hairs on the upper part of their hind legs. Photo by: Dan Mullen, via Flickr They are among the first bees to emerge in spring and the last to remain active. They are able to fly in cold, rainy weather and are excellent pollinators. They have several physiological adaptations that allow them to fly in bad weather, including the ability to shiver to raise their body temperature. They are often the dominant bee at high elevations. Bumblebees make a low buzzing sound when flying. The large queens are often found foraging on early bl

By Bonnie McNamee Image by Charles Kazilek Did you know that the honey bee is New Jersey’s official state insect? Apis is Latin for “bee” and mellifera is Latin for “honey bearing”.   To attract honey bees and others to your garden, plant flowers native to your area. Bees like flowers with single petals (it’s harder for bees to get into double blossoms) in yellow, white, blue and purple. These colors attract bees more than pinks, oranges and reds do.   Honey bees help your garden grow beautiful. Having bees bussing around to act as pollinators brings life to the garden and makes flowers and other plants lush and abundant.   Let your lawn grow a little wild, and provide water and shelter for bees. Plant native – the more wild flowers you plant, the more bees you’ll attract, and the better your garden will grow.   There are many plants available such as purple coneflower, cornflower, coreopsis, foxglove, clover, cosmos, dahlias, hollyhocks, sunflower, poppy, Blac

By Merry Bogert Caveat and general statements regarding toxicity: 1)      Not every toxic plant is discussed in these articles. Just because a plant is not discussed in the article does not mean it is not toxic. 2)      Some plants are species-specific with regards to toxicity – in other words, not all plants are toxic in the same way with all animals or people 3)      The “poisonous plant triangle” applies to any potentially toxic plant. This term means that three things are required for a particular plant to be toxic:      (a) the presence of some particular chemical in the plant, AND   (b) a susceptibility or sensitivity to that chemical by the animal or person          ingesting or contacting the plant, AND   (c) consumption/contact with sufficient quantity to cause a reaction. All three must be present in order for a plant to be toxic to an individual animal or person at one particular point in time. 4)      Toxicity can range from dermatitis (a skin reaction, such

By Bonnie McNamee BEES AND WILD BEES For the last couple of years I’ve been planting only pollinator and native plants in my garden. And by doing that not only have I been rewarded with beautiful butterflies, I’ve also been rewarded with many more bees. While I’ve been on a mission to help the butterfly population, I’ve found out that I can also help the bee population. Last summer when working in my garden, I could see and hear more bees, hard at work, hovering over the flowering plants I put in. You, too, can attract more bees by planting flowers, herbs and natives in your garden. Planting a variety of flowering plants that overlap from spring through fall will provide bees with enough food to survive and reproduce. Clean water, free of pesticides, is also important especially during the summer months when it’s hot and dry. Putting water in a saucer, shallow dish, or pie plate, filled with stones works very well because birdbaths can be too deep and a bee could drown.