Village Condominium Association

Village Color
by J. F. Weiler

As I walk through the Village Gardens I am amazed at how many roses are fall bloomers. Rose bushes with red-pink blooms, pure white blooms and a seven-foot tall bush with huge, perfectly formed red roses astound me. Best of all is a low rose bush with heavenly scented yellow blossoms, a special fall gift.

Color is everywhere! Bright orange-red dogwood berries, yellow-gold honey locust leaves and the promise of red flame bush leaves to come. The exquisite symmetry of the purple dahlia petals makes me wonder how such a perfect design could be created. Yellow mums and purple asters are, on this warmish day, covered with pollinators, mostly bumblebees.

The Buzz

If you like honey you will enjoy this! Karen Lacourse, a gardener at the Victory Gardens in Rock Meadow, Belmont, set up two beehives to assist in the pollination of the gardens. In April she purchased 20,000 Italian honeybees and two queens. Karen has extracted 170 pounds of honey this season!

Pollination is essential for 1/3 of our food crops. Pollination by bees has recently experienced many problems. From 1980 through 1990 parasites led to the decimation of feral honeybees. In 2006 Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of honeybee colonies. The Xerces Society has recently published “Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America’s Bees & Butterflies.” The book discusses the importance of pollination for food crops and the complex issues brought on by CCD. Visit www.xerces.org for more info.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of Karen’s Rock Meadow Honey are donated to the Belmont Conservation Commission. It is the best, most real, honey we have ever tasted! Karen can be reached at RockMeadowHoney@gmail.com

The Victory Gardens are now experiencing much better pollination, and I am pleased to say that although I was buzzed by several bees, I did not get stung taking the photo to the left.

 

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Written for the Nov. 2011Village Newsletter.