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by Michael Weishan
Editor-in-Chief
We were going to do a piece in this issue about keeping bees.
Those of you who have read my work or have heard me on National
Public Radio know that bees are one of my favorite subjects. Since
childhood, I have been fascinated by these industrious, social
creatures, whose manner and society mimic our own in so many ways.
But I don't have the heart to do a bee piece at the moment - all
five of my hives are dead.
I went out in early January to do my normal inspection and instead
of finding wonderful islands of life softly humming among the
cold and frozen drifts, I discovered thousands of little bee corpses.
Some of the bees apparently had crawled into the crevices and
crannies of the hives in a last, vain attempt to keep warm. You
see, the hives' survival during the cold of winter depends on
the bees' ability to generate heat. If for any reason, such as
disease or late swarming, there are not enough bees to keep the
hive warm, the entire colony will die.
I must admit, looking at all those little dead bodies, I felt
as if I had lost a friend. It was extremely comforting to know
that in the midst of all that snow and cold, life continued deep
within the hive. It was the insect equivalent, I suppose, of seeing
the first snowdrop in spring.
So, for the moment, the hives stand empty and silent, though not
for long. As soon as the weather warms, I will purchase new bees
and install the colonies once more. I also intend to find out
the exact cause of the failure. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: To
lose one colony can be considered a misfortune; to lose five begins
to look like gross mismanagement. Unfortunately, American bees
have been under a considerable amount of environmental stress
lately. Recently imported diseases and parasites, combined with
the rise of pesticide use in gardens, have succeeded in destroying
almost all of the wild colonies in the United States. If you see
a honeybee in your garden, chances are it is a domestic one from
some keeper's hive - just one more reason to watch your pesticide
use and to support the efforts of local beekeepers. The productivity
of our gardens, farms and orchards depends almost entirely on
bee pollination. Yet many short-sighted towns have passed restrictive
bee-keeping ordinances that are more the products of people's
innate fear and lack of understanding of bees than of any real
problem hives might present. Honeybees are exceedingly placid
creatures (unlike their wasp or hornet cousins), whose only interest
is in defending their home. If you leave them alone, they will
leave you alone and perform an invaluable service for your garden
to boot.
Before I leave you to peruse the rest of the issue, hopefully
cozied up in some warm nook, I want to welcome Cristina Roig Morris
on board as our new executive editor, and my partner in the newly
formed Traditional Gardening Publications, L.L.C. We have been
growing fast and furiously here at Traditional Gardening, and
the time seemed right to separate the media and landscape design
divisions. Cristina's arrival was quite a coup. We managed to
lure her away from her post as associate editor of Garden Design
Magazine, which many of you will immediately recognize as one
of the best gardening glossies on the newsstands today. We are
delighted to have her with us, and look forward to seeing the
results of her considerable talent here at Traditional Gardening.
And lastly, for those of you who are faithful readers of the Letters
Section, don't worry; it will return in the next issue. The detailed
and extensive features in the Winter edition simply required all
the space. Until the next time then, gentle reader, my warmest
regards.
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