Asters are the honey bees last collection of pollen and nectar before everything seems to close down in the garden. There is a long winter ahead of us and this is a short reprieve of still mild weather before the cold, snow, and short days and long nights.
It’s October, summer has ended and with it early daylight. I noticed these asters full of honey bees and decided I will plant asters in my garden next year.
I've walked by this house, on the corner of Terrebone and Mayfair, for years. I usually stop in the summer to take photographs of honey bees in the hydrangea but the owners have transformed their property into a beautiful garden, no grass, just many different types of plants. Earlier this summer, when I was planning what next to do with my garden, I bought a hydrangea to fill in a place as you enter the side gate, only today did I realize that the hydrangea I bought is the same type as found on this corner. I look forward to having more honey bees in our garden because of this.
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It was at this moment that I discovered how much honey bees love asters. Summer has ended and the bees are preparing for a long winter, they are bringing in the last pollen and making the last honey that has to last them until next spring when they can, once again, leave the hive in search of pollen and nectar. This is serious business.
Here is the single bee hive behind Mountainview School. My impression is that the bee hive was placed here for educational purposes, but I didn't see any children in the area so I am probably wrong about this. The bee keeper made some honey, and now the hive will be relocated to where he winters his hives. I really enjoyed seeing the bees, it reminded me of when I had a dozen or so bee hives where I lived in the country; it reminded me of two friends, George Johnston and Reg Skinner, who helped get me into bee keeping.
For several years I've seen honey bees in the hydrangea bush on the corner of Mayfair and Terrebonne. I like seeing honey bees having been a beekeeper years ago, and most summers they're in my garden. By the way, this garden on Terrebonne is especially nice, it's probably one of the nicest gardens around here; it's not a typical garden, more of a cottage garden.
I was walking through the parking lot at Mountainview School, just a few blocks from here, when I discovered they have a beehive. The bees are being fed sugar water, which is common in spring, to build up the hive and it looks like a pretty robust hive; the bees are coming and going. I hope they visit my garden, I like seeing honey bees on my flowers, it's one of the things I really like to see as it reminds me of when I was an amateur beekeeper many years ago. The school also has a garden and it looks like they're growing a lot of garlic, and nothing else.
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| All garlic? |
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| Mountainview School, beehive is behind the fence on the right |
