(CBC)He estimates there were 102,000 bee colonies heading into this winter in the province - the most since the 1980s. Rhéal Lafrenière with Manitoba Agriculture said the overall number of bee colonies has been growing over the last 10 years, although there have been years where the bee mortality rate has been high. The park makes a concerted effort to develop and maintain pollinator-friendly areas, including areas around the Butterfly Garden, the English Garden within the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden and other areas around the edges of the park. They're really small so if you don't like them, take them out," Pearce added. "Some do have a lot of seeds and so they will create a seed bank - in particular the poppies, but that's not a bad thing. She looked at the list of seeds provided by Veseys and said that while a few may originate in Europe, most of the plants are from North America and none would be considered invasive here.
"I think it's really interesting that this whole conversation is happening because I think that is the most important part - is for people to look and really realize that their gardens the ability to be an ecosystem," said Kaaren Pearce, the horticulture director at the Assiniboine Park Conservancy. A Manitoba horticulturist says that's not the case. The USDA has a handy database to help you figure out what will help and what might hurt.The General Mills 'Bring Back the Bees' campaign has created controversy, with some claiming the seeds offered are invasive. Instead, help out the bees by planting region-specific wildflowers and other bee-friendly plants. They can also spread disease, and cause other physical changes to their new homes, all of which can have detrimental effects on native species, and on humans.”Īnd many of the seeds in the General Mills giveaway packets aren’t even native to the U.S., so even the honeybees might not like them.ĭo your local environment a favor and DO NOT plant those seeds. Invasive species can out-compete the natives they encounter, they can take up all the space and use up all the resources. But Kathryn Turner, an ecologist specializing in invasive plants, says that isn’t really the case.Īs she told Lifehacker, “No plant is inherently ‘bad’, but many species can and have caused a great deal of damage when they are introduced into locations outside of their native range. Duh.īut General Mills sent out the same packet of seeds to everyone, meaning that those seeds probably don’t belong where those people would plant them.Īnd it’s not just a question of whether the flowers would thrive in the climate.Ĭheerios claims on their Facebook pages that the seeds were chosen to attract pollinators, and are not seen as invasive. Different areas have different native plants – that’s why you don’t see coconut trees sprouting up spontaneously in New York, and you don’t see Douglas Fir trees growing like weeds in New Orleans. See, wildflowers don’t grow wild everywhere.
The idea was simple – a little too simple. Plant the seeds, grow the flowers, and give the bees a new habitat. In a fit of corporate activism, General Mills launched a #BringBackTheBees campaign, and sent out wildflower seeds to anyone who signed up. That means that some of the world’s most important pollinators are in danger, which would be bad news for all kinds of plants (and entire ecosystems), not just for honey-lovers. So General Mills, the manufacturer of Honey Nut Cheerios, decided to do something nice for Buzz the Bee and his cousins.īee populations all over the world are in decline, thanks to habitat loss and bee-killing pesticides. Read also: Why Cheerios will ditch their bee mascot
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