Finding Your Happy Place

It’s so important in a time of crisis to find a space that inspires you and helps you feel inspired, but also safe. Those of us who don’t own cars need to find our happy place within walking distance from home. I love going on walks in nature, but often rely on the bus to get me out to where I want to go. The quarantine has made me find places close to home that fill me with delight and help me to get away from all the worry and grief. I’ve written about searching for signs of spring and how the red flowering currant is a particular sensory delight. I’ve mapped out the currant bushes in my neighbourhood and challenge myself to make a circuit of them on a daily basis to get some exercise and keep my spirits up.

I’ve also started doing some of the yoga and basic training exercises missing from my schedule. I chose a place with benches where I can see a blooming currant bush and watch the hummingbirds flit to it while I do push-ups and squats. The bush functions as my personal coach, silently glowing in the sunlight and shifting in the breeze as I find the joy in moving my body and testing my flexibility and strength. The hummingbirds are bold enough not to bother with me as I do my repetitions. I notice tiny weeds blooming and other little details as I move through the space over and over again. 

 

What about you? Have you been walking around your neighbourhood or even your back yard to look for signs of spring? Do you like to have a destination or do you just choose a general direction and wander? I like to do a bit of both. I usually choose some bee habitat hot spots to head towards. This week I’ve found two bee rich destinations: a huge white icicle currant at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park and the pussywillows at the duck pond in the same park.

I've been watching the television series called The Durrells, which is based on the autobiographical books by naturalist Gerald Durrell. There's a lovely episode where twelve year old Gerald sits next to a wall which he observes for hours, making notes about the bugs, spiders and lizards he observes. On Sunday I sat on a wall and watched the insects and hummingbirds in the white icicle currant. It was a joy to feel the warm sun on my back as I documented the bees and flies with my camera.  I got into "the zone" and forgot about anything else other than what was in front of me, losing myself in the sensory experience. It was sublime.

This is a "bee fly". See the large eyes that meet in the centre and the stubby antennae? There are also only two wings, which makes this a wannabee--a fly that is mimicking a bee. it's obviously enjoying the nectar of the Ribes sanguineum.

If you can find some pussywillows nearby I encourage you to go out and observe them on a sunny day. The bushes were just humming with bees, mostly honeybees, but some bumblebee queens and small solitary bees. The honeybees are powdered with the copious amounts of powdery yellow pollen. They mix the powder with bee spit and pack it onto the corbiculae or baskets on their hind legs. The tiny ground-nesting bees that forage in these willows are just emerging. I couldn’t get close enough to identify them. I love the way the big bumblebee queens straddle the catkins as they slurp up the nectar. Once they’d established a nest they’ll also be collecting pollen the way the honeybees do.

There were also wasps and flies in the willow. They are thirsty for the nectar and so some pollinating, but they don't have the copious amount of branched hairs or setae that gives bees the pollen-collecting advantage.

Tachinid flies are a bit tricky because they do have a head more similar to the almond shaped bee face. But if you take a closer look, you'll see the stubby antennae and lack of four wings. You can see on the thorax that this fly is carrying some pollen grains from catkin to catkin.

Once you've found a series of "hot spots" or happy places, you can take photos or just immerse yourself in the environment, going through your five senses to explore the space. (Maybe skipping the sense of taste, unless you really know your plants. And please don't eat any bees!) Create a series of experiences that become memories to hold onto when you wake in the middle of the night with a sense of uncertainty or fear. Hold on to the healing power of nature. Bee well.

Red Flowering Currant is a Classic Sign of Spring

One of my favourite spring plants is just about to reach the peak of its bloom in the Lower Mainland: red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). It is a favourite of Anna's hummingbirds who overwinter. Also, any day now the rufous hummingbirds will be returning from Mexico and they will be competing for the nectar from these fragrant blossoms.

You'll also find large overwintering bumblebee queens waking up on warm days and drink the nectar to fuel their search for a new nest. Bumblebees nest in rodent burrows and other cozy safe crevices large enough to accommodate their growing nest.

This queen is already gathering pollen, which means she had found a nest and already made her first waxed pot where she will lay her eggs and brood on them like a chicken. This pollen looks orange and waxy, so I'm not sure which flowers it is from--there's likely some dandelion pollen in there and some of the pollen from these currants. Check on the back legs of the bumble bees you're seeing and try to find out which flowers they are using to collect pollen.

 This is the yellow-faced bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii). It's the most common bumble bee you'll find in the Lower Mainland. The female is mostly black with a yellow head and shoulders and one yellow strip on the lower abdomen. I call them Vozzy Bears.

Each shrub has a unique colour profile for their blossoms which changes as the blossoms open, mature, and then fade. And the scent is spicy, fruity, with that lovely resinous scent of currant. Rub your fingers on the leaves and inhale that gorgeous aroma.

I'm taking photos of different shrubs in my neighbourhood.

The colours and mood of the blossoms change depending on what time of day you are observing them.

There's also a cultivar or "nativar"  of this shrub called White Icicle which is also gorgeous.

 It seems to have retained the quality of nectar and pollen that attracts bees and hummingbirds. So keep an eye out for hummers, bumble bees, honey bees, and blue orchard mason bees on these shrubs. The White Icicle shrubs I've seen seem to be very healthy and vigorous.

 

Salmonberry in my back yard

Some other shrubs to add to this plant are salmonberry, osoberry and Oregon grape. This will create a strong synergy of good habitat for hummers and bees.

Oregon Grape at the Riley Park Community Garden

Osoberry at the Riley Park Community Garden

It's also wonderful to underplant these with native violets, or cultivars of violets that are non invasive. Sea blush (Pectritus congesta) is a little Gary Oak cutie that also works well as an early ground cover. Pulmonaria is another good bee/hummer plant to add in.

Sea blush at the UBC Botanical Garden

This is a hedge that is getting to be well established in Riley Park. If you look very closely, you'll see a male Anna's hummingbirds very well camouflaged in the branches. One warm sunny days, it's also starting to buzz with bumble bee queens. 

A weed called purple deadnettle has established here as a groundcover. While I would not recommend planting it, we might as well leave it bee so the bees can collect the nectar and pollen. The same goes for the little blue forget-me-nots.

I hope I've inspired you to get out and enjoy the beauty of nature while practising safe social distancing. Bee well!