The Great Sunflower Project Article On The BUZZ: Join Us for the Great Bee Count on Saturday, August 11, 2012

The BUZZ: Join Us for the Great Bee Count on Saturday, August 11!

Greetings citizen scientists! Our poll results are in, and, at last count, some 46% of you have sunflowers up and blooming. About one-third (34%) are still waiting for blooms (or encountered an gardening mishap), and another 21% didn’t plant sunflowers this year.

Those of you lucky enough to have sunflowers in bloom are diligently sending in your bee observations. Congratulations to all those who have already had the opportunity to observe, collect and report their data. Well done! Without your thoughtful observations, we would not have the wealth of information that we have to date.

To see results from the project using data reported up to 2012, have a look here: http://www.greatsunflower.org/results#map - you can zoom in on your area, see averages by type of garden and trends by year. Great stuff, and all because of your participation!

It’s important that you keep sending in data, so please join us and thousands of others across the country in The Great Bee Count on Saturday, August 11th.

Even if you do not have blooms on your sunflowers by August 11th, you can still be enjoy, learn and be part of the project by observing bees on other plants that you may have in bloom. Cosmos, tickseed, bee balm and echinacea, are all on our list, so you can collect data on these if your sunflowers are not blooming yet. And, it’s okay if your sunflower hasn’t bloomed yet. They will in time so you can make your 15 minute observation when they do open up.

And, this year, in support of the Great Bee Count, YourGardenShow.com will present a special online live broadcast "Double Feature" on August 11th, from 10am - noon EST (7am to 9am PST). First hour: a special "Ask Ian" Q&A show about pollination and pollinators followed by an hour of moderated interviews with bee experts talking about our pollinator friends. Join us for this one day event!: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/ask-ian

As you can see from our map, bees are declining in certain areas, and there are some areas where we have no data. Could that be your garden? The more we know, the more action will be able to be taken to preserve and enhance pollinator habitat.

Join us on August 11th!

Freddy B

To Purchase Pollinator Seed Mix Click on Ion Exchange, Inc. Link Below

Ion Exchange, Inc. Pollinator Mix

Ion Exchange, Inc.

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

Taken from The Buzz

Today marks the autumnal equinox, the point in the year when the length of day and night are equal (the exact time this year is 11:09 p.m. ET). Starting tomorrow, the days will be getting shorter, the air brisker, the nights a little longer. Sunflowers and other garden plants that have been working hard to grow leaves and blooms now subtly switch tactics. The shorter days are a signal for them to devote most of their energy to making fruits and seeds against the time when they will eventually stop producing energy altogether and dry up.

Even though the days are shorter, there will still be blooms on many a sunflower throughout sunny September, so don’t forget to pick a day for your observation and send in your data. But while you’re at it, you may want to consider saving your Lemon Queen Sunflower seeds. If the birds and other critters don’t beat you to it, you could have a nice stash of sunflower seeds for planting or sharing next year. It’s easy. Just follow these steps:
1. Identify the earliest, biggest and best-looking sunflowers in your garden.
2. Watch and wait for the plant's seeds to ripen. When the flowers begin to drop away, you will see little green nubs all over the round head of the sunflower. In a week or so, they will begin to darken and the pollen tips will fall away easily.
3. Once the seeds are ripe, cut the sunflower head and carefully place it upside-down in a paper bag, ensuring any seeds that fall go directly into the bag.
4. Hang the bag in a cool, dry place.
5. Examine the seeds every few days. As they dry out, some the seeds will easily fall out of the flower head to the bottom of the bag.
6. When the seeds are dry (about 2 -3 weeks) remove the seeds completely from the head, separating out any leaves, stems or other debris.
7. Store in a closed container and label with the year and type of seed. If stored away from moisture, most seeds will be viable for the next few years.

Sunflower varieties readily mate. When they do that, the seeds produce plants that are intermediate between the two parent types. This means that if a bee brought in pollen from one of your neighbors Mammoth sunflowers, next years seed will not be true Lemon Queen. So, while we’d love to have everyone grow a lot of sunflowers for bee and bird food, the only way we can be sure that your plants are Lemon Queen each years is to buy them from a grower. There is such variation in the amount of nectar, pollen and flower color among the sunflowers that we need to standardize our observation plants.
Our 2011 calendar is now on sale. The theme is “Bees and Food” and can be ordered through the web site. http://www.greatsunflower.org

Join In The Great Bee Hunt.

Ion Exchange has been following the stories about the plight of the honeybees for over a year now. We came across this great site that is actually letting all of us take part and do something in our own back yard that will further the research to better understand the bees and their habits. This site is http://www.greatsunflower.org/. When you sign up they will send you a packet of sunflowers to plant in your own yard ( a species that is for your zone) and all the information you need to keep records on the bees that come to your sunflowers. This is a wonderful opportunity to get the whole family involved in a nature project and help to raise awareness of the natural world and how we can be a part of that natural world.