Squirrels, Bees, and Stickey Wickets.

Bumble Bee on Helianthus annuus Italian White

It takes a couple of hours most mornings in the summer to water all of our gardens. Gary usually waters the store front roof and I do the rest. For me, the time is usually very therapeutic- I look for the signs of other creatures sharing the early morning with me. A roster of birds accompany me usually before 6 am when I start on the attic roof deck, five stories above the ground. The catbirds are first. Their fledglings these days seem to have a more limited vocabulary, with squeals that sound like kittens not happy to find themselves flying. Nuthatches and Chickadees turn up next. The Robins, noisy earlier in the year, are pretty silent right now. Lastly, the Blue Jays show up, making plenty of racket as I search for dry pots under ever-growing, ever-spreading foliage.

Several years ago, I bought a shrub for the top deck which I believed in my mind was a "North Carolina Spicebush.' I bought it to remind myself of my cousins Debby and Kathy, who live near Wilson, NC. It replaced a string of house plants I had previously placed in that corner which the squirrels systematically stripped and destroyed. Shortly after placing this five foot tall shrub in the rear corner of the garden, branches began to disappear. Within a few days, nothing but a trunk was left.

Fortunately, as a healthy shrub, it almost immediately began throwing off new shoots, and by fall had enough branches and leaves to make a nice display of its reddish leaves before they fell. Interestingly, the new growth was all on the side of the shrub away from the rail, where the little furry critters had sat to chew them away.

The second year, there was lots of new growth, and no squirrel pillaging, but also, no flowers.This summer, the plant was doing spectacularly. Lots of lush growth, away from the trellis, and lots of promise in the form of hundreds of tiny buds.

This year also brought what seemed like a squirrel nursery to the top roof deck. I think they lived in the space between the roof surface and the deck flooring. Every time I went up there, there were baby squirrels digging, pooping, and chasing one another through my feeble attempts to get that part of the garden under my control. An early attempt to persuade the squirrels to vacate was useless. Next I tried Havahart Corporation's 'Critter Ridder,'  which worked for a few days, less if it rained. Then I read a technique on line which I modified, using a pint deli container into which I placed 6 mothballs. I punched several small holes in the top and placed them in the spots where the squirrels seemed to use for their bedrooms. Lo and behold, it worked-again for a few days before the squirrels returned.

Sweet Pepperbush behind sunflowers. 

The buggers started chewing off branches of the shrub, which I now know is really Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush or summersweet) and were using them to roof their nests, in the middle of my plants in plane view. (I guess they were using them to sweeten up the mothball smell). First, I removed  the pepperbush branched roof, and placed smallish plants in clay pots in the middle of the cleared area the squirrels had made. After a few days of battle where the squirrels moved the clay pots enough that they could stretch out, then I would move them back and soak all the soil, eventually, the squirrels gave up and left. Finally, I could enjoy my sweet pepperbush.

As I took more time to look closely especially at the pepperbush blooms, I found that the flowers were alive with nectar gatherers. With all of the concern about the depletion of bee populations in the world, I was fascinated to have the chance to watch these bees up close as I watered.

First, I noticed that there were several different sizes and colors of 'real' bees. (I am not lumping all yellow flying things together under the name 'bee'). There were small brown bees which seemed to work quickly, barely giving me the chance to focus my camera before moving on. These are the bees which sometimes get so much pollen on their legs, that they can hardly fly off. In the photo at left, all you can see of this honey bee on a Sunflower are it's pollen-covered legs on the left side of the dark brown disc. You can see bits of pollen still on the individual disc florets waiting to be collected.

There were also larger black and yellow bees which a re Bumble Bees. These bees also collect nectar and make honey, though not as efficiently as Honey Bees. Their hives are less 'constructed" and more by happenstance. Bumblebees have made nests in old discarded mattresses. Last summer, when the Horse Chestnut on 47th Street was taken down (it was hollow at the base, and leaned precariously over the street. An arborist recommended it be taken down) a nest of Bumble Bees was discovered living in the rotted center.

Horse Chestnut:waiting for the bees to clear. 

The crew had to give the bees time to reassemble and relocate. I kept expecting a swarm to form and communally leave, but it was more just waiting for their anger to subside. The workers watched until there wasn't any sign of bees before cutting up the rest of the trunk.

Writing this post (well, most of the posts I've put up so far) has taught me more about how much I don't know about things, like bees. I've observed them, but really had no idea what they were doing. I knew there were Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, Carpenter Bees, and of course had read about African Killer Bees.

Honey Bee on Eupatorium purpureum. 

Bees have been in the news a lot this past week. Many of my friends have been posting a link on Facebook to an article from 'The Escapist'- that fungicides previously thought not to be harmful to bees increase a bees susceptibility to the parasite responsible for CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) .
Another earlier article in the 'Oregonian' reported the largest single reported death of thousands of Bumblebees on a Target parking lot in Oregon after blooming Linden trees were sprayed with 'Safari', neonicotinoid pesticide which turns the "leaves, flowers, and nectar toxic to most insects."

I wanted to include a link to bee identification with this post. The initial results I got were from Pest Control Companies which boasted that they were best at solving "Bee Problems." Most went on to talk about other flying insects like wasps and yellow jackets (which are not bees at all). These removers and hunters do stress the importance of Honey Bees in pollination, but they still seem to reinforce the "problem" over any benefits to individuals living with bees in their garden. Anyway, here's a link to Pennsylvania Wildlife's identification page for bees.

I know there are apiaries right here in our neighborhood.I know, that if I go to the store at exactly the right time, I can buy some locally harvested honey. (It sells out almost immediately). There have been attempts to start programs for high school youth to learn bee-keeping. Hives have been kept in people's attics, and on their roofs. Check this photo from "Harvest Local Foods" blog post called "Show Me the (Raw) Honey. It shows hives on a roof just across from St. Francis de Sales school. I like to think this is where the bees visiting my garden take their nectar. There is also another Apiary a few blocks east of us, which is part of Urban Apiaries. They were written up in the Philly Inquirer in an article called "Bee a Good Neighbor."

So, what of the "Sticky Wicket" I alluded to in the title of this post. Well, my battle with the squirrels was most successful when I figured out how to adapt to their habits and disrupt them. The mothballs in a container kept the naphthalene contained where it could not leech into the environment and kill beneficial critters, but it didn't do a great job at dissuading the squirrels. I know there are other non-toxic deterents I need to try. Small sharp objects (crushed oyster shells) in the soil are said to deter them from digging in flower beds. Cutting the trees back to ten feet away from the house would also help.

We've become so reliant as a nation on pesticides to keep a steady stream of inexpensive but flawless looking produce to our stores that we are jeopardizing the lives of the very creatures responsible for pollinating that produce. Can we learn to adapt our buying habits and our expectations? Can we accept produce that might have easily cut away spots from insects, and to eat foods in their season? Can we think before we spray our lawns to eliminate crabgrass, or over-fertilize with chemicals that collect in our aquifers? Can we assume some responsibility for what's happening all around us that diminishes God's creation?

Some random roof deck photos

Dictamus seed pods