I live close enough that I walk my dog there almost daily. In the park, there is a model orchard and garden. This year they added an apiary.
(my granddaughter Lark playing in the fountain)
Atlanta's Botanical Garden is attached to Piedmont Park, extending the green space in the city even further. The Botanical Garden has had bees for years and has an observation hive in the children's garden. But Piedmont Park itself has been without an apiary.
I'm sure my own bees feast on the flowers in the park and at the Botanical Garden since both are within a mile of my house and apiary.
The Northwood Garden Club sponsored the new apiary and in honor of the ribbon cutting, they invited me to come to their meeting to introduce them to bees and beekeeping. I talked to them and showed a PowerPoint I have called: Meet the Bee. Then we all went to the new apiary for the ribbon cutting.
Beekeepers Mary Yetter and Bob Hassenritter. Mary is a new beekeeper and Bob has kept bees for several years now. They installed these bees late in the season (August) which means the bees missed the nectar flow. They are feeding the bees with inboard feeders. It was nice to meet Bob who is a member of Coweta beekeepers and reads this blog!!!
The Rotary Club and the Northwood Garden Club sponsored the apiary so the presidents of each of those organizations shared the scissors to cut the ribbon, officially opening the apiary.
Mary and Bob talked a little about the bees. I was so proud of the Northwood garden club members who were able to answer some questions accurately since they had just heard my talk.
Here are the two hives, surrounded by fencing to protect onlookers from getting too close. The Georgia Beekeepers Association has a goal of getting bees in the state parks around the state, but here we have bees in a city park in Atlanta.
The protective cage is pretty clever!
ReplyDeleteFantastic News Linda, is the cage to stop vandals or the local wild life?
ReplyDeleteGary
Does anyone know what has happened to the hives? I enjoyed stopping by to check on their activity, and miss them. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI heard from someone walking at the park that the bees had died over the winter and they are waiting for replacement bees to come. They started those bees way after the nectar flow and it would have been hard for them to gather enough supplies for winter. Sugar syrup alone is not sufficient diet-wise and nutrition wise to get bees through the winter in good health.
ReplyDelete