Feb 22, 2010
It's not too early to start thinking about NPW.
NPW? National Pollinator Week.
They are a key to our global sustainability and food supply. Eighty-percent of the world's crops depend on pollination. Honey bees pollinate about one-third of the food we eat.
Worldwide, we have about 20,000 species of bees, according to native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. And California alone, he says, has more than 1600 species. Bees include sweat bees, digger bees, leafcutting bees, bumble bees, and scores of others.
Want to know what to plant in your garden to attract bees and other pollinators? Good sites to read are UC Berkeley's Urban Bee Gardens Web site and the Xerces Society Web site.
Meanwhile, almond blossoms are in full bloom in California. At the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, an almond tree near the apiary is a burst of blossoms and a flash of aromatic fury.
Walk by the tree and you'll see pollen-packing honey bees buzzing around like there's no tomorrow.
We must ensure there will be a tomorrow.
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Attached Images:
![ALMOND TREES throughout California, including this one at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, are in full bloom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) ALMOND TREES throughout California, including this one at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, are in full bloom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/3251.jpg)
Almond Tree at the Laidlaw Facility
![HONING IN, a honey bee heads for the sweet nectar of an almond blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) HONING IN, a honey bee heads for the sweet nectar of an almond blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/3252.jpg)
Honing In
![A HONEY BEE forages among the buds 'n blossoms of an almond tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A HONEY BEE forages among the buds 'n blossoms of an almond tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/3253.jpg)
Buds 'n Blossoms
![OBLIVIOUS to everything else but an almond blossom, a honey bee extracts nectar and collects pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) OBLIVIOUS to everything else but an almond blossom, a honey bee extracts nectar and collects pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/3254.jpg)
Close-Up