Honey week & how to help out the bees
Bite
It’s autumn already, time to spare a thought for the bees as you head (yet again) to the garden centre to replace those tired shrubs, trees and flowering plants around the home. It’s also the end of the honey season and, as the abundance of summer flowers dwindle, it can be a time of food shortage for our endangered little pollinators.
As well as drawing attention to the diversity and quality of the eight main types of single-flower honeys available in New Zealand, the second Airborne Annual Honey Week (March 16-23) will feature a series of activities to raise funds for Trees for Bees. The Kiwi research organisation is dedicated to bee health and encourages the planting of bee-friendly gardens. Dr Linda Newstrom-Lloyd of Trees for Bees says it is well known that bees thrive in urban areas because of the diversity and abundance of pollen and nectar in gardens and, during autumn and spring, many beekeepers move their hives closer to urb