Dayton "Dirt" - February 8, 2013

February 8th blog Last Saturday, the presentation given by Denise Ellsworth generated a number of questions from the audience and so much so that the seminar could easily have gone on for another hour! One fact that I found fascinating was Denise’s statement about honeybees and their communication. It seems that a worker bee that finds a particular kind of nectar and pollen will communicate with her sisters who in turn seek out the same. For example, in an orchard of multiple types of fruit trees in bloom at the same time, one particular group of bees might work the apple trees only with another group working the pears and so on. The exchange of pollen between flower of a particular species is so important that without insect cross pollination, one third of the foods that are so popular today would simply disappear. It reminds me of one of my professor’s statements in Agronomy class at ATI that without spiders helping to control insects, scientists estimate that food production would drop by one third! I’m looking forward to this Saturday’s seminar on Gardening with Whimsy by Michelle Riley as Michelle will yet reveal a whole different dimension to the garden and the landscape that will give even more pleasure to the human brain. Come join us at 11 a.m. in the Owl Barn on February 9th for Michelle’s informative talk. See you soon! Tom