Landscaping for pollinators

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, welcome back. I'm Ron Wilson, and you are
in the garden here on news radio six ' ten
WTVNA two to one wtv IN eight hundred and six
to ten WTVN, talking about yarding on this weekend before Christmas.
Cannot believe that, but it is what it is. Christmas
on Wednesday, and then next thing, you know, it's New
Year's and then we're into twenty twenty five and we

(00:21):
move on to the next year inning season and looking
forward to it. I don't know about you. I always
look at the winner, as you know, kind of cleansing
the palette, clearing everything off, and we start all over
again twenty twenty five. In the meantime, doing things indoors,
doing classes, doing webinars, growing things, you know, inside and
all that kind of stuff. So you do whatever you'd
like over the winter, and some folks just sit back

(00:42):
and relax and enjoy it. I doubt that our next
guest does that. She probably is buzzing all the time.
But our next guest one of our favorites, of course.
He we call her the Queen Bee. She is our
retired state entomologist and state ap earst and Queen Bee rightfully,
So are be ble Letcher? Good morning morning? How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Oh? I'm looking out the window and looking at snow.
There's snow on top of the bee.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Hives, and what does that say to you?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
It means that, well, I know that the bees are alive.
If you look at the entrance, the bees will actually
melt the snow in front of the entrance, even though
there's snow on top of the hive. Really, so that
means that they're creating enough heat can melt the snow
in front of the hive. It's kind of cool, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Now, wait a minute, how do they do that? They
go down and stand in front of the entrance, or
just enough that's coming out of this.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Just enough heat, you know, coming out out of that hole.
Their main entrances on the bottom, right the bottom of
the hive, and they're just enough heat coming out that
it melts the snow at their entrance. Now, if you
get a ton of snow, then they can actually suffocate
because they can't melt the snow fast enough. But just
a little bit of it's kind of fun to see
that melted snow.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
So that's so that's then a beekeeper's job to go
out there if you get a ton of snow to
keep it cleared off.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
We do. We need to keep the snow cleared off,
or have an upper entrance, which a lot of beekeepers
have done that. We have an entrance at the top.
That way they can still breathe, because sometimes you can't
just can't get to the hives.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, so the snow.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Goes down, Yeah, you're buried in the snow.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, yeah, so why don't they do Why don't they
put like roofs over the top of them and all
that kind of stuff to protect them from from the
snow or I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, we can do that, but then you have snow drifts,
and if you have hives scattered all over the place,
it gets a lot harder to do that.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yep, I get it. And I know you were listening
to our interview earlier with jin Rose and the bee cups.
But like she said, she took the classes learned about
it was too hard, so she didn't do it, And
it's it is not an easy thing to do.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
No, it is very hard. The first three years of
beekeeping are by far the.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Hardest mentally and physically.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
So much there's just so much to do so much
to learn. Every hive is different. Hives are like beat
like cats, you know. Every hive is different, different personalities,
different needs. Genetics is so variable that what you do
one hive may not work for the other five you have.
So yeah, it's it's tricky.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, I again, I have not taken it over by myself,
but I have helped and assisted, and it's a lot
of work and that's why I said no way, I'll help,
but I'm not going to do it by myself. And
it's a because it is. It takes a lot of
time and that I again I applaud all the beekeepers
that are out there, and we always always encourage folks
to support your local beekeepers because they do a lot

(03:49):
of work and it takes a lot of time to
produce that honey that you are buying from them. And
make sure you are buying a local honey. By the way,
I don't know, Barbie Bletcher, if you got this notice
this week from USDA and APHIS, yet you've got to
be excited about this one.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
I am, or more the colony loss, but yeah, I'm
excited about this one.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, or at least relieve because it wasn't close to Ohio.
But nevertheless, you know, after five years of relentless effort,
the Northern giant hornet, which do we start out ConA
the giant Asian murder hornet or something like that MC
killer hornet or something, the Northern giant hornet has been

(04:34):
eradicated from Washington State and the United States of America.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
I believe it when I see it. Yeah, they I mean,
they have not found any evidence. They've been monitoring and
trapping now for a large area and they have not
found anymore. So that's really but we have to keep
you know, as you always say, we have to stay
vigilant because they can only come back.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Oh yeah, you're right. And even though all the trapping
and all and you know, you want to stay positive
about this. Uh uh, you know, but again you've got
to keep watching. And I'm sure in Washington State they
will continue to monitor and watch for it. But as
you know, with you and with Buggy Joe Boggs, when
we bring up things like this, like like this wasn't

(05:22):
even close to you to Ohio, But nevertheless, knowing about it,
knowing what to look for, what they look like, is
so important. And I think that the end of this
statement that they put out make you know, it sums
it all up because they talk about, you know, they
talk about the eradication underscores the power of early detection,
community involvement, you know, the inner agency working together, and

(05:45):
they talk about you know, the public's vigilance and preventing
the spread of the invasive species, reporting new threats to
your state officials. You know, we've talked about that forever,
and it's you know, we're all a great set of
eyes out there to help out the Ohio Department of Agriculture,
the USDA. When you see something that doesn't look right,
insect or whatever, and reporting it, you know, you could

(06:07):
be saving a lot of folks, a lot of insects,
a lot of trees or whatever crops or whatever may
be by keeping your eyes open reporting what you're seeing.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, because it's us. It's the citizens who find these things.
You know, the USDA and ODA can only do so much,
but all of us together, we're the ones that are
finding these things and reporting them. So all of us
need to keep our eyes open. And you know the
interesting thing about this and all the other new paths
that we get is people start paying more attention to

(06:39):
the insects in your yard. You know, we get calls.
I mean, our phone and our emails were just blowing
up with all the people reporting all kinds of insects
and maybe not even the same group of insects, you know,
because they never noticed them before. Right, So it's nice
in a weird kind of a way that people are
paying more attention into the insects.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
In your yard.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, and that's a good thing. So you know when
we bring this up, and you know, you don't want
to scare you know, well you do kind of you
want to, you know, scare hies less say, you don't
want to scare people, but you want to make them
aware of it so that you can't keep your eyes
open and make the reports. And like you know, the
Asian longhorn beetle, you know that was reported by someone
it happened to notice something a little different, uh, you know,

(07:22):
and of course they're working to eradicate that. So it
is very very important. And you having worked with the
High Department of Agriculture, you know how important that is
for folk folks to be reporting. So don't you ever
feel silly about reporting something that you're not aware of
or sure what it is, because it could be something
that you may have saved a lot of a lot
of lives, or a lot of crops, or a lot

(07:43):
of trees or whatever it may be.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Oh, yes, we're we're we're out there. We're keeping an
eye on things. And it's just so important to report
something you don't if you don't know what it is,
don't kill it. Take some pictures of it, you know,
put it in a jar or something. Find out what
it is, because you never know what the new pest
may be.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Talking with Barbie bletch you or she is our queen bee,
getting our bee update as we as we like to
do before we take a break. I saw in a
survey that was done I don't know. This is in
twenty twenty four about the best states for beekeeping, Ohio
came in at number six. Why are we such a

(08:24):
good state for beekeeping?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think it's because everybody listens to you, and they're
all growing.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Everybody listens to you, the queen bee. But not really,
Why why is Ohio number six? I mean, I it
surprised me.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
You know, back in the twenties, Ohio is the number
one first honey producing state in the United States. I think,
you know, we have a lot of water. We have
a lot of you know, rivers and lakes and water,
you know, water resources, which the insects need and the
plants need that. So I think that's part of it.
We have rich soil, and we're just a far enough

(09:02):
south that we get some decent temperatures in the summertime,
but not so not so hot did the plants all
dry up.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
So we're just kind of in in that right zone.
It's interesting. California was number one, which I get that.
New York surprised me. Was number two. North Dakota, Texas, Montana,
then Ohio, then Florida. Then that stayed up North Michigan, Pennsylvania,
in Illinois.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
So yeah, interesting to have the most intelligent beekeepers.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Of course, I was waiting for that to be the
number one reason why we why we are.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, I'm slipping, you know.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
You know one thing I ask you about it. I
don't know, several weeks ago whatever, but we were when you
and I were talking. You don't hear the term colony
collapse disorder anymore.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
No, So the researchers have found out what caused that.
They were calling it because they couldn't. They just couldn't
figure out. And you know, every thirty forty years or so,
we have a huge die off of bees and they're
starting to understand more and more. You know why these
bees kept dying off like that, and this recent one

(10:19):
it's it's oh, it's multiple factors that all come on
the bee at the same time. Number one is the auramites,
which are our store number one arch enemy. They actually
chew on the developing bee, both as a mature larvae
in the pupa stage and as an adult. So they're
chewing on the bee. They're giving them all kinds. There's

(10:40):
like thirty some actually I think there's more than that.
Seventy nine viruses a day vector to honey bees. Wow,
that's a severe problem. And then the lack of food.
So you know, Ohio is really diverse. We have four
completely different regions as far as plants and such. But
if we don't, if we have everything developed in Ohio

(11:03):
to become becoming more and more urbanized, it's harder and
harder for honey bees as well as other pollinators to
find enough food.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Sure, And so it boiled down to it was a
cocktail of a whole bunch of different things that were
causing the problems. We've gotta take a quick break. We
come back more with Barbie Bletcher. We're going to keep
her for a third segment. So stick with us more
with Barbie Bletcher here on news radio six to ten WTVN.
It just says Christmas, doesn't it? See people skating around? Well,

(11:31):
I'll tell you what. If you're headed to the Buckeye
game this evening, you better bundle up. That sounds like
that's going to be pretty cold, but it's going to
be heated up in that stadium. You're got to get them,
get the crowd involved here and bring home a win.
Talk up to Barbie Bletch. You are Queen Bee this
morning and talking about obviously the bees that are out
there and things that are going on. You know, you
sent me some interesting information looking at the numbers of

(11:54):
bees in twenty twenty four. Major decline in many areas.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, especially the commercial beekeepers, which is different normally, you know,
new beekeepers, hobby beekeepers. We're still learning, but the commercial
beekeepers have suffered the highest loss. So overall we had
a fifty five percent loss and twenty you know, basically
the season of twenty twenty four starting in the winter,

(12:22):
and that's alarming. We haven't had it that high since
we first started keeping track of honeybee losses now.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
So we look at those high numbers, I mean, obviously
the next question is and what's caused the losses? And
I'm assuming again it's a combination of a lot of things.
I mean, we had some pretty serious weather this year.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yes we did. I was trying to read the science
behind it, and they don't specifically say all the reasons
for it. But you know, we had hurricanes, we had flooding.
I know some commercial beekeepers colonies were floating down the
river because it's flooding. So that was I don't haven't
found that yet that it less actual reasons yet, right,

(13:05):
and they may just be telling the data still, right.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
And again, like you said, this this vera might which
has been the major issue all along, it continues to
be a major issue. I mean, you know, you kind
of keep updating us that there's they're making strides and
new cultural practices and all, but it's still out there. Right.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's still the number one reason we lose bees worldwide.
It's the number one reason worldwide, worldwide yeah, every country,
every continent has bara might now.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
And wasn't there a.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
Time like Hawaii did not have any or Australia or.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Somebody Australia didn't have any and the government went in
and they burned all the colonies that they thought had it.
But you know what happened when I shouldn't say this,
but it's just between the two of us.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, but nobody's listening.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Somebody knows that their business is going to be just
destroy it and they're movable. They moved them, so we
don't know. Somebody might have said, I'm not going to
have my hives burned. I'm going to hide them in
the woods. Oh yeah, So I mean you just you
just don't know.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Wow. So but again, research continuing on with this thing,
and uh, I don't know, I guess. And that's a
tough one if you think about it, because you know,
you're you're you're dealing with an insect is being destroyed
by another insect.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Right, yeah, you're killing a little bug and a big bug.
And to find out a product that will you know,
kill the mic to not kill or harm harm the beast,
it's difficult. But we do have some new things coming
along our own ree. Johnson at Ohio State has an
idea for a product that's that's been accepted. So they've

(14:51):
got five years of research ahead. But the product has
been accepted by a company, and we have some other
things down the pike. But they're taking longer than we thought.
Everything takes longer than we think it's going to.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, but again, if they're doing the research and making
sure everything's right, that's a good thing.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Mm hmm. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
But we do have some new things coming along, and
just in time, because there's a new mic called a
triple elapsed mite, which is even worse than the boroa might.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
And that is that something that's native.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
It's not native. It's out in the in the Asian countries,
it's in Russia, now, it's in They found it in
quite a few of the Asian and European countries.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
Now.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's worse than the boro MDE. It's faster,
it's about half the size, so it's smaller to see
and it's gonna be even more difficult.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
But we have not controlled mite.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
But we have not seen in the United States yet.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
None in the United States, none in Europe, none in
the none in North America.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Good excellent talking with Barbie Bletcher. She is our Queen Bee.
Always get a lot of great information from Barb. Before
we take a break, we'll come back. We'll talk about
what folks can be doing this winter, as far as classes,
books to read, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we've
never you know, and I've never talked through the I
think with all this stuff about water. And you know,

(16:22):
we had the gen ros on with their bee cuffs,
which I thought was pretty cool little invention, uh, and
the way they change colors and all. But you know,
water is as important to pollinators and the bees as
it is to you and me and birds and the
whole nine yards. Where do bees usually come up with
their source of water so.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
They can get them from puddles? That person that called
in about the compass plant right where you have a
reservoirs of water down on the axles, they get them
from puddles, they get them from.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Bird doves, even just I mean, they don't need much,
but they need water in order to break down metabolized sugar,
so they have to have sugar.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
And most beekeepers do have a source of water.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
Out for their bees.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
What what do they usually do? I mean is it
do they put like a pan out or.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
They have Yeah, because as you know, bees will drown
and a teaspoon of water usually a flat pan. You
were talking about your oasis with the sand in the bottom.
That's great not only for our butterflies, but bees as well.
I mean it doesn't take much. I mean commercial beekeepers
usually make sure that they put their apieries near a

(17:33):
source of water like a river or a creek or
something like that, lake or a pond, So that's how
they do it. But yeah, we we have to supply
a constant source of fresh water for bees. Yeah, they
can get it from dew on the leaves.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
I mean, they can get a.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Lot of sources. But when we had that prolonged drought
this year, we suffered be suffered from that.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, And I still remember you say something about also
that the pollen count with it being so dry and
so hot, was also down in a lot of plants
because I guess the heat and the lack of moisture,
the pollen count goes down.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yeah, the plants are going to conserve every drop of
moisture they have, so the nectar went down, the pollen
quality went down because the plants were just trying to
survive themselves.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Interesting talk about Barbie Blecher, she is our Queen Bee.
Let's take another break, we'll come back one more segment
with Barbie. What so what can we do this winter
so you can learn more about bees? Or if you
want to get involved with being a bee keeper? Where
do you go? Well, Barbie's got some answers for us
here on news radio six to ten WTVN. We're talking
bees here on news radio six to ten w tv

(18:47):
and with the Queen Bee, Barbie Bletcher, and always great information.
I learned something from Barbie every time we talk. It's
it's and I know you do too, and it's that's
why I saway so much fun to have on with us,
so much great information. So, uh, you know, as we
now approach the winter season, and of course Christmas is

(19:07):
here as well. So if you're looking for some guests,
books about bees would be great. When it comes to
books for the for folks to learn from, I don't
know about you, but a couple of them. Kim Flotman's
The Backyard Beekeeper. I think that's what is his fifth edition,
Absolutely outstanding book, und read.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
He puts a lot of energy into that book.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, it's and again, unfortunately this was released just as
he passed away, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, great, last January it was released.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
But it's called The Backyard Beekeeper Kim Flotman F L
O T T U M. And you would also mention
one that is it bees for dummies?

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, beekeeping for dummies?

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay, fun books.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
You know, that's set up the way the other dummy
books are where they you know, squares and different topics,
and it's just it's fundery. It's a fast reader. It's
mostly accurate, mostly accurate.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Good book.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's mostly accurate.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Okay. I thought maybe you were just throwing it at
me because you said, ron I got the perfect book
for you, be keeping for dummies.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Oh Ill, but you know more. You probably you would
read that book and say, wow, I know more than
that book does as a primer, you know, for people
who don't know anything about beekeeping.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Well, and I think that's a good way to get started.
I mean I really do. And you probably can find
those things at the half priced bookstore, use bookstore or whatever.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
You don't have to be a beekeeper to enjoy either.
One of those books.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
No, you don't.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
As a matter of fact, I learned about bees.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
It's good books.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Well, and that's what it's you know again, that's what
you and I I think have worked. You know, talking
together on this show is just trying to get people
more involved just to learn about them. It's just like
the classes that are available. Lots of the associations over
the winter time having their winter classes just to go
and learn. I still remember the the one grandfather said,

(21:06):
I'm taking my grandson. We listened to your show, and
we're going to go learn about bees. We don't knowlessure,
we're going to be beekeepers, but we're going to go
and take a couple of classes and see what we
think and just learn a little bit more about it
as well. I got one more to add to that.
It's called The Bees in Your Backyard.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, that's a very good book.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, and that's a cool one because the it's a
it's a you know, it's a professional book. But you know,
kids that are ten twelve years old would appreciate it
too because you could take this out and then if
you see bees, actually use it as a identifier. Olivia,
we've had her on the show Carol several times talking
about this and great person. But it's another great reference

(21:45):
book for you too. So there's three great books that
you could use to help sharpen the b X over
the wintertime if you're looking to do that. Now. There
are classes and other things available as well.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, there'll be. It will all be post sit on
Ohio State Beekeepers. But you know Central Ohio Beekeepers. They
are actually offering four classes three year in Central OHIOED
one is in Marysville, Knox County, East Central Ohio Beekeepers,
Fairfield County Beekeepers. They are all offering beekeeping classes. There's

(22:20):
a big one down your way at Southwest o High Beekeeping.
They're gonna be having theirs I think in January, so
that's another big beekeeping seven are Actually it's more of
a workshop. I think.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Is O have Statebeekeepers dot orger, dot com or dot
net it's dot org.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
I was just on their website this morning and I
don't see it, so I think they're still trying to
put it together, like me, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
What's your website, Bob?

Speaker 2 (22:48):
I have a helper, so they're they're okay.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
All right, you got a drone helping you out.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yes, I just, I just I have fallen way behind
your web design.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
I totally understand before much better now. You know, it's
all about the You know you want to go and
you want to learn, but there's also a part of
going to these classes would be the experience. Is there
any way that we'll be able to know ahead of
time where the three Stingers may be at one of
these at the same time, because that would be an
experience that would be well worth the money.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
It will be a surprise for us as well.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
What if you all three shows, if you all three
show up at the same place at the same time.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
We may be at Central holl Beekeepers one of their classes.
We might show up at the Home and Gardens Show,
which is coming up not too distant in February. Yep,
you just never know. We also have a beekeeping scholarship
for kids from ages eleven to seventeen. So if any

(23:56):
kids are interested in learning about beekeeping, they get the
bee High, they get three classes and the bees, and
they get mentored for a year. So that'd be a
great experience for anybody in Central Ohio.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
So where do they find that if they go to
Central Ohiobeekeepers dot Org there's an application there that they.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Fill out, and I know that Central Health Beekeepers are
still looking for more kids.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
To apply.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Central Ohio Beekeepers.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Dot org yep, all written out, and.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
How many kids? How many kids do they usually give
that to?

Speaker 2 (24:32):
We want four or five, not a lot for four
or five kids who are ambitious, homeschooled. We've had a
lot of homeschooled kids do that, so it doesn't matter
where they get their education.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
But they have to have I'm absuming a mentor or
someone to help them out.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, we will give them a mentor. Oh you do, yeah, yeah,
Central Hollo Beekeepers will give them a mentor somebody who
lives nearby who is willing to just spend time with them.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Cool. Ask your parents first.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Ask your parents.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
And don't just show up with a beehive in the backyard.
Guess what, mom and dad?

Speaker 2 (25:14):
If you've seened it green or brown? Nobody will ever
know that to be high.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Oh and not even your parents.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Right, you get away with it, and you know they'll
never know.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Why is Barbie but Butcher in our backyard all the time?

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Check it on the bees, Check it.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
On my bees? What bees? See that green box? Back
there in the corner. That's Central Ohio beekeepers dot org.
And what's what's the age group there?

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Ages eleven to seventeen, eleven to seventeen.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Check it out if you're interested in doing that, and
they you will get mentored as well. Barbie Butcher, always
a pleasure. I hope you have a very merry Christmas,
happy New Year, and we will get more B and
fro from you in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
I hope absolutely merry Christmas and.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Go Buck again, Go Bucks, you got it? Take care
all right, quick break we come back. Phone lines are
open for you at eight two to one WTVN eight
hundred and six to ten WTVN. Here on news radio
six to ten WTVN talking yarding on this Saturday before
Christmas here on news radio six to ten WTVN. Eight

(26:23):
two to one WTVN is our number. Thanks again to
Barbie Bletcher for joining us our Queen Bee. Always great
information and again I highly recommend it, you know, get
one of the books or whatever and learn more about bees.
I think if you do, it just helps you when
you go to planting or planning your perennial garden, flower gardens,
your landscape, whatever it may be to help support those pollinators,

(26:46):
including the native bees and the honey bees and all,
and providing the water and all. And the b cups
we talked about those earlier, kind of a cute way
to supply water for your pollinators and your bees as well.
Be sure and check it out b dash cups dot
com b dash cups dot com for thirsty pollinators. It's

(27:06):
a pretty cool thing. And again all the classes that
are out there. As a matter of fact, Knox County Beekeepers,
they've got their beginner Beginner be Keeping one and two
coming up in February February first and the fifteenth, and
then they go into all kinds of stuff there. You
can go to knoxbees dot com to learn more. And

(27:27):
of course they have their Advanced beekeeping class coming up
in latter part of January, so you can again for
all of those advanced beekeepers that's for you as well,
and go to their website Knox k and o X
knoxbees dot com to learn more or to register for
those particular classes. Before we go back to the guarding
phone lines had doctor Allen Armidy John last week and

(27:49):
we were talking about perennials his perennial book obviously one
of the best out there. It's the bible for referencing perennials,
learning more about them. But one of the things that
doesn't come is perennial continued perennial plant care. And I
had several folks saying calling her, emailing saying, what about
perennial care. You know, we okay, so we plant it

(28:11):
all out, We get our perennials planted. We like our garden,
but we're not sure exactly what to do at the
end of the season. You know, is there something out there,
a good reference book for that? If you all recall
Tracy Disabado, aust a local perennial gardening expert many years
ago Jesus back, I don't know how long ago that was.

(28:33):
She wrote the first edition of The Well Tended Perennial Garden,
And of course we had Tracy on our show several
times to talk about the book and to talk about
perennial plant care, and she upgraded that once or twice.
I think there's a couple additions to that, well twice,
I'm sorry. Then in twenty seventeen, I believe it was,

(28:55):
she updated it one more time, and as far as
I know, I think this was the last vision that
was made. But it's an absolutely outstanding book, whether you
have the original version or any of the three actually,
but this is the latest one. It's The Well Tended
Perennial Garden. The Essential guy to planting and pruning techniques
for perennials Tracy disabado Ost outstanding. As a matter of fact,

(29:21):
I did not know this, but as I was looking
at the cover of the book, doctor Allan Armidach had
actually written a little something on the forward on that
which was kind of interesting about one of her books.
So there you go. But it's called The Well Tended
Perennial Garden. This is the third edition and it is outstanding,

(29:42):
a great reference book for how to take care of
that perennial garden. So I get another one for you
to go online and find it and learn more about
taking care of your perennials during the winter season. The
Well Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy desabado Ost, a local
expert and well written as well. Let's see, we lost

(30:04):
our caller. My fault because I was rambling on, so
I apologize for that. But you jump back on board
at eight two to one WTV in eight hundred and
six ten WTV and talking about yardning. Also, I was
talking with somebody on another station yesterday about yardning and
winding down the season and whatever, a little interview, and
they were talking about things to do this time of

(30:25):
the year, and I said, you know, it's the holiday
season and we kind of over eat and have lots
of treats and all that. Don't forget you that your
yard can be your own personal gym and there's a
lot of things that you can be doing out there,
working kind of like working out to burn some of
those calories and take care of the yard and garden
as well. And you know, we were talking about you know,

(30:47):
edging the beds or transplanting or planting plants. I brought
up the raking and I said, you know, raking is
really a great way to burn calories. It's a good
upper body workout, you know, the whole nine yards. And
I said, you know, right right now, you want to
make sure you're raking up any of those leftover leaves
that are still in the lawn. There was a lot
of plants that trees that lost leaves late in the season,

(31:10):
so you might have a few leaves still laying out there.
Obviously you're not going to get the lawn more out
and mow, but you can rake. And they said, well,
I thought the big trend now was to leave the
leaves where they are. I said, it is, but not
on the lawn. Everywhere else you can leave the leaves
as they are, but in the lawn you need either
grind them up and put them back down into the

(31:32):
turf or get them off of the turf. That and
groundcover beds, evergreen groundcover beds. You don't want those on
top of those as well. They'll smother them out over
the wintertime. So I'm still one hundred percent behind the
leave the leaves, but just not not on the turf
and not in the groundcover beds. Please, you got to

(31:52):
rake that out, so you can burn a few calories
and get out and rak the yard and raak those
leaves into the landscape beds or rake them off of
the groundcover beds. All right, but good morning. You're in
the garden with Ron Wilson.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
Good morning, Ron, listen to questions. I got some Easter
lilies from the church and I left them in the pot,
kept them watered and they bloomed again. Anyway, they're still
in the pots. Should I take them out of the
pots and plant them or not? And then the second question,

(32:29):
I did a wildflower garden out front, a strip of
it l shape, and I have not cut them down yet.
Should I leave them to self seed or do I
need to cut them down, grind them up?

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Leave those alone, let that stay like it is, let
the seeds drop. I'm in that flower wildflower mix. You
probably have a combination of annuals and perennials, so the
perennials will come back from the rootstock, but the annuals
need to recede, so leave that there. Obviously the wildlife
will enjoy it as well. A lot of the beneficial

(33:05):
insects can use some of those stems in all to
overwinter as well. So leave that there. Get into late
winter early spring, then get out there and remove all
that dead foliage and get it ready, you know, you know,
rake it things out or whatever needs to be done
for the new stuff to start to come back up again.
But just leave it alone like it is right now,
would be great, And let that all drop and let
the wildlife enjoy it, and then clean it up before

(33:28):
we get into the growing season sometime late winter, early spring.
As far as the easter lilies, are they brown now?
Are they still green? No?

Speaker 4 (33:37):
They're brown now?

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Okay. What I would do is is, you know, I
don't think I would plant those this time of the year,
but if they're still in a container, what I would
do is put them in an unheated garage or unheated
shed where it protects them from being you know, severely cold,
you know, down into the teens or whatever. Water them,
water when you put before you put them in there,

(33:59):
and maybe water once a month or so, just to
keep a little moisture around them. Then in the springtime
again and once we start the weather breaks, then i'd
break bring them out and go ahead and get them
planted in the ground. They will grow and flour for
you in the summertime like they normally would. Obviously they
were tricked earlier to flower earlier, but I would do

(34:20):
it that way. I'd overwin them in an unheated garage
or shed, then take them back outside and plant them
in the springtime. Butch appreciate the call. Gotta go running
out of time. Thanks to our callers, Thanks of course
to our producer Ella, because without Ella, none of this
stuff would happen. Now, do yourself a favor. It is
the weekend before Christmas. Obviously we're gonna watch the Bucks
game tonight and cheer them on, but otherwise, make this

(34:41):
the absolute best weekend and the best next week of
your life. See it.