Accessible Gardening: #21 Practical Matters for Phsically Challenged Gardeners, 2 by Amargia

Amargia wrote:
Hello again everyone!
I hope you had a good Mother\'s Day, Carrie. Where did you find a teakwood planter? What plant is getting such luxury accommodations?
Jacqueline, you mentioned seeing a small bee yard near you, in an earlier post. You might be interested in some tidbits I came across only recently. Of course, it may be old news to you, but here goes.
Bees thrive in your desert. The Sonoran Desert near Tucson is the second greatest epicenter of bee diversity in the world. It is only exceeded by a place in Israel. Dry grasslands and desert oases are the favorite haunts of bees. I read a book titled The Reason for Flowers by Stephen Buchmann. The author lives in Tuscan. It\'s a fun read, not at all dry and academic, but full of interesting facts.
You have been contributing to this thread long enough to have picked up on how I just have to know things. I tried to find out how honeybees survive in the desert from beekeepers in places like AZ and NM. The funny thing was none of them could give me an answer. All I found out from them was the drought a few years back killed off many hives, but under normal circumstances they do fine. I do wonder what a honey created from cacti and creosote blossoms would taste like. If you ever decide to sample the local honey, let me know what it is like.
I have heard, because of hive collapse among imported honeybees, some beekeepers are experimenting with the stingless honeybee native to your part of the country. The Aztecs and Mayans domesticated them. There is no doubt it can be done. The native, stingless bees arrange their hives differently, however. New techniques will have to be worked out.
Do you have to weed during the summer in the desert or is it only a matter of watering and keeping plants from getting too hot? I wish our garden took a siesta once the mercury passed the 90° F mark, but that is when things get to be a jungle if we do not stay on top of them.
Yesterday and today I spread a truckload of what is euphemistically known as \"mushroom compost\". My garden will smell like a badly tended barn for a week, but the plants will be in a state of bliss for many months. All I can say is God bless the inventors of anti-bacterial soap.
k*
Pic1 Nadi took a pic of a green anole lizzard Peek-a-boo
Pic 2 Jim took a picture a male skink