Healdsburg's Melissa Garden a haven for imperiled bees

<p>Before you even fully see The Melissa Garden, you can hear it.</p><p>Like a theater before the curtain rises and the lights dim, it is a cacophony of sounds, from high-pitched tweets and warbles to a constant harmony of hisses.</p><p>It is a garden dedicated to bees, but the pollinators live harmoniously amid the rambling, unmanicured magic of Melissa, with friends like towhees and titmice, goldfinches and butterflies. An anise swallowtail perches daintily on an echium, also a favorite of the honeybees and bumblebees who busily go about their collection work under the hot spring sun.</p><p>Two years ago this exuberant, slightly wild looking garden was a vegetable patch for winery owners Jacques and Barbara Schlumberger. But starting in fall 2007, Barbara, a beekeeper for six years, began collaborating with biodynamic consultant Phyllis Coe and respected North Coast gardener Kate Frey to create a two-acre sanctuary for imperiled pollinators near their rural Healdsburg home.</p><p>You would never guess this uproarious and densely packed collection of colorful natives, Mediterranean plants, herbs, perennials and annual wildflowers was only planted in February of last year. Some 80 to 100 different species are crowded into the 70-foot diameter circular garden. Each plant was carefully selected to create the ultimate bee banquet.</p><p>There is a method to the madcap arrangement. Forget about struggling with color combinations, spacing and other traditional challenges of garden design. Bees like it this way, and the overall effect is a wild beauty.</p><p>“What we’re finding is that the bees seem to like a large group of something blooming. They don’t seem to like to waste their resources on just a plant here or a plant there. They seem to like a swath of things,” said Frey, a Chelsea Flower Show medalist renowned for her naturalistic style.</p><p>One of the drastic consequences of loss of habitat is the fact that bees are often forced to travel long distances.</p><p>“The further they have to fly, the less time they live. It’s something I learned myself recently. Bees die early because they work themselves to death by having to fly so far away,” said Barbara Schlumberger, explaining the advantage of offering so much closed-packed variety.</p><p>After consulting with authorities and poring over books and plant lists, the three women compiled a massive Excel file that led to an inclusive list of plants honeybees love. From that the three women selected their favorites and set to work, creating a garden that would serve as a healthy bee sanctuary as well as a demonstration garden and learning center to teach others how to make their landscapes and gardens more hospitable to beneficial bees. They named the garden Melissa, the Greek word for honeybee.</p><p>The garden is open to public tours led by Frey on specified dates with advanced reservations. Dates are June 5, July 3, Aug. 7, Sept. 11 and Oct. 2. All tours run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tours are also offered by special arrangement for children’s groups. And occasional seminars and workshops will be held at the garden as well, including a Holistic Beekeeping series this fall.</p><p>The list of beneficial plants is large, although what might work well in one garden might not do as well in a different setting. But experts suggest that the top five plants that support nectar and pollen for honeybees throughout the season are phacelia, borage, echium, melissa and goldenrod.</p><p>Honeybees are essential for the production of more than 90 food crops, accounting for about one-third of the American diet, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While beekeepers, agronomists and horticulturists have long expressed concern about the effect of habitat loss and other environmental forces on pollinators, the problem has intensified over the last few years with alarming numbers of colonies collapsing.</p><p>Scientists point to a number of potential causes, including large mites, the emergence of new and more virulent pathogens, poor nutrition, chemical contamination and various stress factors.</p><p>The garden is an experiment in itself. The women are learning from trial and error what works best and where. They found, for instance, that some roses that are hugely popular with bees in some gardens didn’t go over so well at Melissa. But the old rugosas proved a winner. Frey speculates that it may be the indulged honeybees at Melissa have so many other delicacies from which to choose.</p><p>They gravitate toward the Shirley and Greek poppies and Mediterranean herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano.</p><p>Other favorites include Clarkia, a native wildflower, centranthus, which thrive in poor dry soils, and Bidens, little yellow daisies that bloom from spring all the way into December. Manzanita is good for winter forage and early spring wildflowers like Baby Blue Eyes can provide for them in February.</p><p>“What Barbara wanted to create is a bee sanctuary with a whole variety of plants that offered different types of nectar and pollen so the bees could gravitate toward what they wanted and what they needed and what was suitable instead of being forced to one thing or another that they may not really care for,” Frey said.</p><p>Schlumberger has nine hives of her own within and near the garden; several are unique German-designed horizontal boxes with two exits, created more for the comfort of the bees than the ease of honey collecting. Barbara painted them with colorful flowers so they look like folk art amid the blooms.</p><p>The garden may be custom-designed for bees, but it has the beauty of nature’s hand, like a field of wildflowers. Paths radiate out from a central fountain, which provides not just a focal point but an essential water source for the bees.</p><p>“They need fresh water to make honey and they need it close to the hive so they don’t have to fly too far,” said Barbara.</p><p>But the garden’s buzzing inhabitants also need a raft to prevent them from drowning. Bopping on the surface are little bits of cork and redwood on which several bees on a lazy May day appear to be taking a pleasure-boat ride beside the lily pads.</p><p>Schlumberger cautions people to take courses and study before taking up beekeeping. There are just too many potential problems and complexities. But even someone with just a small urban yard can provide essential habitat, an effort that can multiply if neighbors also can be persuaded to get involved.</p><p>“Bees are indispensable to our whole agricultural system,” Frey said. “When you’re nurturing the bees you’re nurturing the rest of the planet.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com.</p>