September Meeting
Wild Bees – A Gardener’s Best Friend
Sam Droege
Head of USGS Bee Inventory & Monitoring Program, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research CenterThursday, September 20, at 7 pmKingsport Center for Higher Education
300 W. Market St., Kingsport TN 37660
What are Wild Bees? Did you
know that it is the Wild Bees rather
than Honey Bees that dominate the
pollination and visitation of our pol-
linator and flower gardens? You
certainly recognize Bumble Bees,
but what about the hundreds of indi-
viduals that are about the size of
grains for rice? The 50+ genera?
The 4000+ species? Do they sting? Do they provide hon- ey? Do they pollinate crops? How do I recognize them? What is their relationship to native plants? Are they in trouble? How can I help them? These are just a few of the many questions Sam Droege will address as he discusses the critical role wild bees play in our gardens.
Sam Droege has spent most of his career at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland. He has coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey Program, developed the North American Amphibi- an Monitoring Program, the BioBlitz, Cricket Crawl, and FrogwatchUSA programs and worked on the design and evaluation of monitoring programs. Currently he is devel- oping an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects and other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/usgsbiml/. You can also follow him on Instagram and learn more of the details at USGSBIMLhttps:// www.instagram.com.
OVERSEAS AND IN COUNTRY TOUR AND TRAVEL GROUPS
We are offering to members a few recommendations for anyone interested in garden tours and travel both within the United States and Overseas. Members have travelled with each of these groups and feel confident in suggesting them to you.
Feel free to contact them and ask to be added to their contact list in order to be informed when they have trips available. You may also want to google them for more information, as some have websites and/or Facebook pages.
troybmarden.com Garden Tours and Travel Troy will be announcing his 2019 tours on
August 1. He has already posted a few hints on his Facebook page.
Ron and Linda Williams info@gardentravelers.com or call them at 417-408-3880.
Dr. McDuffie, retired professor from Virginia Tech mcdufftours.com He has already posted all his 2019 tours. Take a look!
Jason Reeves, Horticulturist at UT Gardens in Jackson, TN . Email him and ask to be added to his announcement list when he schedules a tour. jasonreeves3@utk.edu
Dr. Sue Hamilton, Director of UT Gardens in Knoxville schedules garden tours almost every year. Ask her to add you to the announcement list. The announcements can usually be found on the UT Gardens Facebook and email announcements. sueham@utk.edu
ETSU Arboretum Plant Spotlight: Chinese Emmenopterys