By Kathy Kealtey Garvey
Three UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty will be among the speakers at a workshop hosted by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) on "Your Sustainable Backyard: Pollinator Gardening” on Saturday, April 28 in Room 101 of Giedt Hall, UC Davis.
The event, to take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be an opportunity for attendees "to learn about bees what they do, and how gardeners can support healthy populations through simple gardening practices," said coordinator Melissa "Missy" Gable, horticulturist and program director of CCUH. "This workshop is intended for anyone with a love of gardening."
"We have entomologists, horticulturists and design experts presenting at Pollinator Gardening," Gable said. "This workshop is designed both to inspire gardeners and equip them with all the necessary tools to provision pollinating insects in their own landscape. Without the pollination services of European honey bees and native bees, what fruits and vegetables would be accessible to us? Come learn what you can do your part to support healthy bee communities."
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Dave Fujino, executive director of CCHU, will welcome the crowd from 8:45 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, will speak on "Bees 101: Species Diversity and Behavior" from 9 to 4:45 a.m., followed by pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at UC Davis, discussing on "Importance of Pollinators and Conservation."
Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture at the UC Davis Arboretum will cover "Bee Plants" from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The last workshop speaker, Vicki Wojcik, associate program manager of Pollinator Partnership will speak on "Pollinator Gardening: Design and Maintenance" from12:30 to 1:15 p.m
Following the formal presentations, participants are invited to (1) tour the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, and (2) visit the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery, where they can see the pollinator demonstration beds and have an opportunity to buy plants at a specially held sale inside the nursery. Members of the Friends of the Arboretum will receive a 10 percent discount.
Both the haven and the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery will be open from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Thorp and Gable will be at the haven to answer questions during the self-guided tours, and horticulturist Ellen Zagory will be on hand in the teaching nursery's demonstration gardens to field questions.
Also that day, plans call for a Bohart Museum of Entomology display and a display of solitary bee nesting sites from Wild Campus.
The registration fee of $45 registration includes parking, morning coffee/tea, scones and a gourmet boxed lunch. For more information, see the registration site at http://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/events/ysb-pollinator-gardening.
The contact person is Melissa (Borel) Gable at mjborel@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-6642.
