Happy New Gardening Year to You!

One of my favorite gifts from the holiday season is this happy solar-powered sunflower. When light shines on its adorable solar cell, the flower sways from side to side and the leaves bounce up and down. This little plant doesn’t need any batteries, water or special care.

If only all gardening could be so easy!

You may have noticed I took a December break from the computer. I kept up with my VegetableGardener.com blog for the Fine Gardening magazine network, but I used the rest of that time to recharge my own solar-cell.

Stepping away from the keyboard was refreshing. I spent time brainstorming new ideas for articles, planning new gardening projects and thinking of ways to make WesternGardeners.com a better resource for gardeners.

I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s in store.

Spending 15 minutes in your garden counting bees is a pleasant way to pass the time while helping with bee conservation efforts.

I’ve been counting the bees that land on the ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflowers in my garden and I’m delighted at the results.

During my latest 15-minute observation, I counted 12 honeybees landing on one large flower–almost one bee every minute.  Many others buzzed around me as I sat quietly counting.

If you haven’t counted your bees yet, there’s still time this summer. Just set aside a little time during the day when the bees are active and pull up a tree stump.

All you need is a watch, paper and pencil. Once you’re done counting, be sure to report your results on www.GreatSunflower.org.

While you’re counting, think about the thousands of other gardeners across the country who are involved in this citizen science project to help bees.

The data that’s gathered every year helps researchers with their bee conservation efforts.

If it’s October, it’s time for the annual New Mexico sunflower show in my backyard.

It’s easy for me to forget about the big patch of Helianthus maximiliana during the summer. These easy-to-care for sunflowers don’t ask much of me except for a little water now and then.

The nice green leaves make such a lovely backdrop in the perennial garden, that it seems they’ve always been there.

It isn’t until the yellow flowers start to bloom up the tall stems that I remember how much I like this plant.

The flowers start as tight buds that slowly unfurl one by one to create a beautiful hedge of green and gold.  I’ve written about sunflowers many times before, but may have neglected to mention this steady performer.

One of my favorite things about this native prairie plant, in addition to its drought-hardy nature, is that it’s the last plant to put on a show in my garden. It waits until late September or early October to start blooming and won’t quit until the first hard freeze.

If you’re looking for a way to attract more bees to your garden, plant a patch of Lemon Queen sunflowers and join The Great Sunflower Project.

In May I planted a packet of Lemon Queen sunflower seeds so I could be one of the citizen scientists counting bees for the The Great Sunflower Project. The project is the brainchild of Grechen LeBuhn, a professor in the Department of Biology at San Francisco State University.

The project encourages gardeners to plant sunflowers and collect data that will help gauge the health of urban bee populations.

I’m one of about 50,000 gardeners who have signed up to plant and count. So far I’ve submitted the results of three observations.

I don’t know how many bees gardeners are counting in other areas, but I have to say, the bees are loving my Lemon Queens.

During each of my observations honeybees have landed on these sunflowers at nearly one landing per minute during each 15-minute observation.