News
Thanks to everyone who came to see me at Dinner with the Hummingbirds at Woodlands Nature Station in Land Between the Lakes. I had fun meeting and talking with everyone. Plus, eating dinner with probably close to a hundred hummingbirds or more zipping around us was an amazing experience. If you love watching hummingbirds, then I highly recommend checking out one of Woodlands Nature Station’s annual Dinners with the Hummingbirds.
I also want to thank everyone who took the time to take my short survey last month. Based on your feedback, I’ve decided to start offering webinars again. My plan is to keep the webinars short and very focused – just like you asked for. My first webinar will be on September 17.
My September 17 webinar will focus on the benefits of planting native plants in the fall. I’m making the webinar free, because it’s going to be a bit of an experiment. I’ll be trying some different things that, if they work, will make this “not the typical Zoom presentation” that we’ve all become accustomed. I’m excited about the new things I’m planning to try and hope you’ll be able to join us. Details about how to register for the free webinar can be found below. (Registration is required.)
The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy. I have a plant sale, presentation, or both going on almost every week between now and the middle of October. All of the September events I currently have scheduled can be found below. I’ll highlight my October events in next month’s newsletter. But if you want a sneak peak, then you can find all my upcoming events through the end of October on my events calendar.
Upcoming Events
Glasgow Pre-ordered Delivery
Bowling Green Pre-ordered Delivery
Gardening with Native Plants: Benefits of Fall Planting
Tennessee Honey Festival
Interested in Having Me Speak to Your Group?
I’m actively booking in-person and virtual speaking engagements, keynotes, community events, and field days / workshops for 2022 and 2023. If you are interested in having me speak at an upcoming meeting or event, please contact me to discuss fees and availability.
Shannon, I enjoy your website thank you. Would you please address bumblebees around the fact that folks are killing them by putting up bumblebee traps and they suffer a horrible death. Folks are afraid they’re drilling into the wood of their house is going to bring the house down I guess. I recently read that in the past 20 years 90% of our bumblebees have disappeared. I love them they’re wonderful pollinators they drill in my house all the time. Is this something I truly need to worry about? Thank you. Bob Crow
Hi Bob,
Thank you for your compliment about my website. This is an issue that I’ve talked about a little bit a couple of times, and have been thinking about doing something more in-depth. I probably will do that next spring, but I can quickly talk about a few things with you now. Bumble bee populations are declining for several different reasons. Unfortunately, they also sometimes get blamed for the activities of carpenter bees. Carpenter bees are the ones that drill into houses. Bumble bees nest in the ground or at the base of clumping grasses or similar vegetation.
I haven’t seen a lot of research about how badly carpenter bees really affect the structural integrity of buildings and such. We have an old barn on our property that was built pre-1955 and the carpenter bees love it, but it’s still pretty sturdy. For all the concern about their nesting behaviors, carpenter bees are still important pollinators. Having said that, I also understand why people wouldn’t want them drilling into their homes or garages. Below is the link to an article I wrote several years ago about a really simple, non-lethal way to discourage carpenter bees from drilling into your buildings. You might find it helpful for yourself or to share with others.
Pine for Carpenter Bees https://www.backyardecology.net/pine-for-carpenter-bees/
Hope that helps,
Shannon