We’ve been making progress in planting our butterfly garden, and now we’ve moved onto the next phase… bees!
I’ve been researching citizen science programs that might be fun for me and my son to do together. I love the idea of being a citizen scientist, helping in our own way to assist real scientists by providing data collected from our own yard.
The first one we’re going to participate in is “The Great Sunflower Project“, aka, the Backyard Bee Count, a citizen science project through San Francisco State University. Apparently, little is known about urban pollinators, although it is understood that the population of urban bees is in decline. The hope is that urban gardens and restored areas can grow and create a connection to natural habitats, creating a greater environment for native bee populations to thrive.
In order to participate in this project, we had to plant sunflowers. Specifically, Lemon Queen Sunflowers. The researchers are trying to make each garden as similar as possible. However, though less desirable, it is also OK to use the following flowering plants instead…
- Bee balm
- Cosmos
- Rosemary
- Tickseed
- Purple coneflower
Earlier this week, we ordered our seeds from Renee’s Garden (www.reneesgarden.com), the nursery working with the researchers at S.F. State. We’re going to grow the requisite sunflower and also cosmos in a variety of bright colors. We already have a mature, thriving rosemary bush. Though not included in the study, the bees will love the salvia (sage) we’ve planted once they flower. Strangely, I have never attempted to grow flowers before. The sunflower and cosmos will be a new experience for me. I’m curious to see how this goes! And of course children love sunflowers, with their huge size and height. The Lemon Queen variety may grow to six feet! If our sunflowers grow to even close to this size, my son is going to freak out.
Once we have some flowers blooming, the instructions are pretty simple. Collect data once or twice a month during the summer and for as many months as we have flowers. What does data collection entail? Download a provided data sheet and head into the backyard with a pencil and a watch. Get comfortable next to the sunflower, and record all the bees seen for the next fifteen minutes. Easy! A camera is also recommended to take photos of the bees for identification purposes. Then submit the data to the researchers.
I’ll keep you updated throughout the study!
Interested in participating? Check out the website… www.greatsunflower.org
Related articles
- Beeeee Nice To Bees (yardlovertimes.com)
- What You Can Do To Help Save The Bees (organibees.wordpress.com)
- Favorite English Garden Bee Plants – Variegated Weigela Florida (romancingthebee.com)
- Bring on the Butterflies… (anaturemom.com)
- Bring Wildlife to Your Home – Create a Backyard Wildlife Habitat (anaturemom.com)
- Favorite English Garden Bee Plants – Marguerite Daisy (Argyranthemum frutescens) (romancingthebee.com)
hike.wander.wonder 
Collecting data about urban pollinators is a great idea!
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I hope it helps!
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This is a really neat project–thanks for sharing and can’t wait to see how it goes!
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Me, too! I told my son that we’re going to help the bees, and he got really excited about it. I’m hoping this will help get him over his terror of being stung.
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Thanks for all the info. Sunflowers and cosmos are some of the easiest flowers to grow. Might add them to our vegetable patch at the local church.
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You’re welcome. Glad to hear sunflowers and cosmos really are easy to grow. I read that this was the case, but you never know….
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What a coincidence…sunflower planting is on our agenda for today! My husband and I were just discussing this last night. Have you ever seed the “sunflower house” idea? I wish I had learned about that when my kids were smaller…kind of too late for us now, but here’s a link for you with that and various other gardening inspirations to share with kids, in case you are interested: http://www.artfulparent.com/2008/05/sharon-lovejoy-on-gardening-with-children.html
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Thank you for the additional information! I love the various “plant house” ideas I’ve seen. I have a wonderful book, Roots Shoots Buckets & Boots, which has great gardening activities to do with kids. Our yard is too small for most of them.. but it’s fun to check out! And I look forward to checking out the link you provided. Thanks!
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I think the link I provided is an interview with the author of the Roots, Shoots book! 🙂
Great minds…
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Too funny! Having a few free minutes between activities (crazy… birthday parties, eclipse event, …), I read through your link. Great interview, especially where she gives tips to help children enjoy gardening. I guess when we think of sunflower houses, we have to think of Sharon Lovejoy!
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This is wonderful! No worries – sunflowers pretty much grow themselves! Some further information on bees is available at http://www.beeguardian.org or backyardbeehive.com, for your readers. (I hope I wrote the links out okay…) I’m excited for you and your project. What a beautiful life.
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Thanks! And the more information out there, the better! I’m always worried about growing things because we have an oak tree that creates shade all over our small backyard.
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Sorry – it’s http://www.backyardbeehive.com for anyone interested. Keep up the good work and thanks for being so generous.
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Great link for those who interested giving a home to the bees. We might do this one day. Thank you!
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Love gardening season and hope to have bees and butterfies for a long time 🙂
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The more pollinators in the garden, the better!
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How EXCITING! I love growing sunflowers — I’m actually about to plant a few myself; I can’t help but get silly with their enormous beauty. Your son will love them. And eat their seeds after drying! 🙂 I’ve never heard of this program — can’t wait to hear of the progress! I’m always referring people to humane bee relocating services (don’t they understand the situation with bees these days?!? Extermination?!?), so I’m extra-thankful for your links.
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We need to help the bees where we can, don’t we? All of our pollinator friends need help. I really can’t wait to watch my son react as the sunflower grow!
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