Our Native Bees: October Presentation

Pollination is necessary for most plants to reproduce, and pollinators—including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps, flies, and others—are happy to do the job.

When talking about pollinators, people often think about honey bees, however honey bees are not native to Oregon and their populations are in decline. Oregon is home, though, to over 500 native bees some of which are better pollinators than the European honey bee. As gardeners, we can support our native bees and encourage them to pollinate our plants by adjusting our gardening habits.

On Tuesday, October 2, Cottage Grove Garden Club welcomes Jimmie Rundall to learn about Oregon's native bees.

Jimmie's presentation will include general descriptions of the 560 species of pollinator bees in Oregon as identified by Oregon State University. Jimmie will also talk about the differences between bees and wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.

Image from the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture
https://flic.kr/p/XbQ22p

Included in the presentation will be a short video to show what actually happens when a flower is being pollinated. And we'll learn the characteristics of honey bees, mason bees, and bumble bees which make them especially suited to pollinate different flowers.

Finally, Jimmie's presentation will close with suggestions on how gardeners can help save our native pollinators.

Our presenter, Jimmie Rundall grew up on a 40 acre fruit farm in eastern Oregon near La Grande, and graduated from OSU with a degree in structural engineering. After retiring in 1998, Jimmie took the Master Gardeners class and now teaches pruning and grafting, and supervises a fruit orchard with 115 fruit trees at the Grassroots Garden in Eugene.

Garden Club meets at the First Presbyterian Church (on the corner of 3rd and Adams). Our business meeting begins at 6pm, Jimmie's presentation begins at 7pm. All guests and visitors invited! Refreshments provided.