Clover

Clovers are regarded as forages or lawn weeds. When I was a boy, when the earth was green and great mastodons lumbered across the Illinois plains, lawns in my neighborhood and town were mixtures of grass and clover, with occasional dandelions and other weeds. Then came herbicides and fertilizers, and most lawns were converted to monocultures of grass. All of the images below are via wikimedia commons, searching on "clover" and "clover bee".

All clovers are nitrogen fixing, when working with their Rhizobium bacterial friends.  Might be a good idea to buy inoculated seeds, or buy inoculum.   Depends on who you are reading.

Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens) is considered good for lawns.  Dutch White clover is compact, keeping to a smaller size than most other clovers.  It does not require watering, stays green longer than grasses do, and does well in poor soil.  Dutch white clover improves the soil.  This clover is a perennial legume.  Dutch white clover is the type that grew on that ancient Illinois lawn of my boyhood years.  It turns out that before herbicides and fertilizers, clover was included in high quality lawn seed.

The prompting issue for me, now, is to have lots of nectar production for honey bees.  Of course.  White clover is known as very bee friendly and produces a clear, excellent honey.   Even without wanting to make honey, and even without beekeeping, however, the role of clover in soil conditioning and possibly attracting beneficial insects, and nurturing neighborhood bees, makes it a good addition to the lawn.

Part of the "rebranding" of white clover as a weed, was that bees were so attracted to it.  The thought was that, to reduce risk for bee stings, we should eradicate clover in our lawns, keeping them toxic, environmentally wasteful and damaging, and unhealthy, but pure and pretty to some eyes.  Multiple websites, especially grass seed companies, lawn care companies, and purveyors of fine chemical toxins, continue to promulgate the idea that clover is bad.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense)   is regarded as marginal for honey bees, because the flower shape doesn't allow for good nectar retrieval by honey bees.  Even so, they are beautiful to look at, and other beneficial insects can be attracted.  Red clover is a short lived perennial, lasting 2 or 3 years.  .

Red clover with bee.  Apparently, honey bees may not get much nectar, but they can collect and use pollen.  I don't know if some honey bees are better adapted than others, for red clover.  Other types of bees might benefit.  There are other choices, so it might be best to aim for those.

Ferdinand bee from the story of  Ferdinand the Bull.  My favorite book.  And this image is inked onto my right calf.  Looks like this bee is on a red clover.

Crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum.  "Incarnatum" refers to "blood red".  Not the same as red clover.  A good producer of nectar for honey bees, and the bloom time is after fruits, and before white clover, which makes for a more extended nectar season.  Trifolium incarnatum is an annual herb, and does not regenerate when cut.  So I imagine it would make a good green manure for raised beds, as well.

If I plant in Spring, I may not get much, if any, bloom and nectar, for the white and crimson clovers.  All in good time. The first year of beekeeping is about learning, and improving my environment for them in future years, and seeing what works, and what doesn't work.

White there are already occasional clover plants in the orchard and yard, they are rare.  Probably due to nuking with "weed and feed".  I want a more productive ground cover.  Today I went around the little orchard area and lawns, with a garden rake and packets of white clover seeds.  They can be obtained on Amazon and other places.  I raked the mole hills smooth, spreading the soft  soil around.  Then I sprinkled Dutch White Clover seeds thinly on the prepared patches of soil, and raked a little more.  The first frost is expected in one or two weeks.  I don't know if these first seeds will survive and grow,  If they don't, I'll replant in Spring. By then there will be more molehills, too.   I will wait until other plants are growing, and if no clover germination then, I'll replant.  I feel like I've made another step in the process of creating a more natural and useful area for honey and other bees, beneficial insects, the soil, and the plants and trees.

Helleborus

This was available a few weeks ago at a local grocery store. It's a nice concept, since Helleborus can be planted permanently outside when it's done inside. They bloom mid winter, when very little else is blooming or growing. I have others at home.

This variety is "Jacob". I had 2 plants at work, which is warmer and more light. On those, the leaves are more faded and flowers are about done, so I planted them outside today.

Hellebores have a place in herbal tradition, as "medicine" and as a poison. I wouldn't eat them or anything made from them - they are known to be poisonous. Apparently deer and rabbits know that too, so the plants are left alone.

One of these came with the house, 11 years ago. It's in a shaded, dry spot with a fence on the north, the house on the west, and a big tree on the east. It blooms every year.

The flowers are nodding.  So you have to get down low, or have them on a retaining wall, to see the full appearance.  This illustration is nice, but I don't think it's very accurate as a depiction of the flower.

I obtain these old illustrations from sites that describe them as before 1912, so are over 100 years old. This one is by Botanical illustrator Elizabeth Blackwell.

Moving a big Camelia

This camelia has been in front of the house for about 9 years. The original plan was to espalier the camelia, but it got away from me. It was too big for this location. I could have just cut it down, but decided to move it along with the rest of the migration of trees and shrubs to the battleground place. This, and a pieris from the back yard, is the last of the major shrubs or trees to move. Some small stuff could follow.

This location was very crowded. The camelia, some clematis, hostas, and bulbs. I dug out a hosta to give myself room to work, and re-planted the hosta when done. The roots grew laterally and under the sidewalk, but the root mass was reasonably compact.

After trenching, I undercut, then sliced behind the bush. Tipped it, slid onto a sheet of cardboard, and onto the truck.

Here in the wheelbarrow. I added Mycorhizal inoculant. Most likely there is already a poipulation of mycorhiza since I'm moving a big root mass. No pic in final location - if it blooms in a couple of months, I'll add a pic then.

The Hazelnut

From La Belgique Horticole, 1850s.


Hazelnuts have been part of the human diet for 9,000 years. A large pit with thousands of hazelnut hulls was found in Scotland, radiocarbon dated to about 7,000 BCE. This was on the east coast of the small Hebridean island of Colonsay at Staosnaig. At that time, hazenuts were important in the diet, along with acorns and nettles (Archeology.about.com) Also "Based on the abundance of hazelnut shells found at Mesolithic sites in southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany it was proposed that these remains may testify to an important food supply rather than just the use as a supplement to animal protein."

After the last ice age, hazelnuts spread from Northern Turkey (Pontus to the Greeks) to other areas of Europe.

"The caduceus of Greek mythology and Hermes fame was made of hazel.... when Apollo was only a few hours old he escaped from his cradle and went out in search of adventure...stole two oxen from Apollo (the god of the sun) and hid them in a cave where he killed and eat them. When Apollo discovered what had happened, Hermes played to him on a lyre... Apollo was so charmed by his music he allowed him to go unpunished. In gratitude Hermes gave his lyre to Apollo, who in return gave him a magical Caduceus made of Hazel, said to bestowed wisdom, wealth and prosperity on its owner by turning everything it touched into gold."from Plant Folklore, on Helium.com.

The ancient Greeks referred to hazelnuts as "karyon Pontin" for their plentiful availability in the mountains of Pontus.

Romans are known to have cultivated Hazelnuts, including in Britain.

(By Redoute, botanical illustrator for Marie Antionette)


The world's top producer of Hazelnuts is Turkey. In the US, the top producer is Oregon, followed by Washington.

Beehives in hazelnut grove, Ordu Turkey.  I think Hazelnuts are wind pollinated, however, because they bloom in winter.

From wikipedia.

 In mythology, hazel wood is used for dowsing (finding water). Quoting from the blog Grannulus Grove, "The Celts believed hazelnuts gave one wisdom and inspiration. The Gaelic word for nuts are 'cno' pronounced 'knaw' and the word for wisdom, 'cnocach'...if a Hazel tree was unjustly cut down then the punishment was death." Glad I didn't cut down the hazel trees in my Vancouver yard, opting instead to move them to Battleground. Whew. From the same source, "Hazel trees were so abundant in Scotland that it was named Caledonia which was derived from Cal-Dun, meaning 'Hill of Hazel. In Norse mythology, the Hazel was known as the Tree of Knowledge and was sacred to the god Thor."

Hazelnut trees live about 50 years, but regenerate from the roots. So the large bush that results may have trunk or root hundreds of years old.  This regenerative ability may be why the small trees that I moved seemed to split into 2 or 3 trees.

From The Guide to Nut Cookery, 1898, by Almeda Lambert. " varieties which have long, fringed husks extending beyond the nut, are filberts; ...those whose husks are shorter than the nut, are hazels...derived from the Anglo-Saxon word haesel meaning a hood or bonnet."

Hazel Nut trees are more compact than most nut trees.  They tend to be bushy, so can be used for a hedge row.  Ultimate size about 10ft tall, 10ft across.... Hazelnuts spread by underground runners that develop roots. These runners can be cut away from the main plant using a sharp digging spade and planted in a new location. Also here.

Moving Orchard Mason Bee Houses

Each year I add new houses for the Orchard Mason Bees.  They fill up almost all of the holes, so I know they are proliferating.  Now to take some to the Battleground place, where there will be lots of trees to pollinate.

One is home made. The other was bought. I should not have kept it so old, they say they should be replaced to reduce disease. Still, they did well and reproduced well last year.

Kitty cat is vaguely curious but only in that "I don't care" cat way.

Packed with bubble pack to avoid rough travel. I think it's OK this time of year. Earlier in the season bumping and shaking is bad for them. Will install them in a little while. I read, ease or southeast exposures are best. This winter I'll have to make some new bee houses. A bee house is a piece of untreated wood, big enough for 5/16th's inch holes, 6 inches deep. Although these are 4 inches deep. There are many different plans. The bees don't care about the details.