The Edmonds Floretum Garden Club will welcome Thyra McKelvie, educator and author, as speaker at the club’s Monday, April 17 meeting.
McKelvie runs the Pollination Program at Rent Mason Bees, a Bothell-based company that makes it easy to become a mason and leafcutter bee host. She will discuss what solitary bees are and how to care for them.
Floretum’s meetings are held in the third-floorBrackett Room at Edmonds City Hall, 121 5th Ave. N. Doors open at 10 a.m. for social time. The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome.
Solitary bees, including mason and leafcutter bees, enrich habitat, strengthen the ecosystem and help fruit trees yield more fruit. The bees lay babies in the natural habitat and in nesting blocks. Harvesting and cleaning the cocoons and blocks is a critical step when hosting mason bees to remove harmful predators. Clean nesting material needs to be placed out every year in spring. Rent Mason Bees will provide the bees and nesting blocks and they will take care of the maintenance and cleaning.
Visit www.RentMasonBees.com to learn more.
Mason and leafcutter bee kits will be available for purchase at the event, but you can also order them ahead of time on the website. McKelvie is offering a $15 off coupon code that will cover half the shipping charges and a discount on the bees. Use coupon code Floretum23 at checkout.
These videos provide more details ahead of McKelvie’s talk:
The Buzz on Solitary Bees: https://youtu.be/9Sad6gA9jfQ
See What Leafcutter Bees Look Like? https://youtu.be/FRF6Hg9axJw
Rent Mason Bees also offers free printable workbooks and worksheets for kids: Teach Kids About Mason Bees & How They Make Our Food – Rent Mason Bees
You can also learn what to plant in your garden to support pollinators. Pollinator Partnership has created region-specific “recipe” cards at www.pollinator.org/gardencards.
Learn more about the club at floretum.org, or on Facebook and Instagram.
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