To Bee Or Not To Bee

When the remnants of hurricane Isaias blew through New York on August 4, 2020, it made an unwelcome stop in Newburgh. One of the old willows, in a part of the woodland garden that will remain wild, broke in half and came tumbling down. Fortunately, the tree fell in a convenient place to just leave it to rot into the soil. We were not so lucky with other trees. A large part of an oak by the driveway fell. When it crashed to the ground it broke all the branches off a nearby Norway maple. Along the stream an old catalpa tree broke in half, surprisingly leaving a nice leader on the remaining part of the tree. We spent hours gathering up branches from trees around the yard. Lynn Warren’s landscaping crew came and cut up the trees and left us with a big pile of wood chips.

However, the real tragedy was in the woodland garden. An enormous oak split at the base, causing the entire tree to collapse to the ground. This was the largest tree in the woodland garden and featured prominently in the middle of the garden. The photograph above shows the tree on the ground.

To provide perspective the photograph above, the blue arrow points to a 6 foot worker cutting his way through the tree. The yellow shows line highlights the length of the trunk. This photo was taken after the crown had been cut, allowing him to get closer to the trunk of the tree.

The tragedy of the tree was soon overshadowed by the discovery of a bees’ nest.

The bees had entered the partially hollow tree through this round opening, an old wound from a long forgotten branch. The bees were swarming everywhere. The honeycomb was exposed and the bees were frantically milling around to protect their home.

Being an important part of ecological system, saving the bees was paramount. Checking on line, I found a local bee keeper, Larry. Within hours he was out in his white bee suit to inspect the hive.

Larry’s first question was, “if I can save the hive can it be located on you property.” I have never thought of myself as the bee keeper type. He saw my hesitation – TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE – that is the question. He assured me he lives close by and would tend the hive for me. I chose to BEE.

He carefully moved the “brood” from the hive, vacuumed as many bees as possible and set up a box for them. We were to wait a few days to see how they took to their new home.

Larry came back after the weekend and announced the bees had absconded. Such and interesting word – leave hurriedly and secretively. He said wasps, yellow jackets and other nuisance insects had likely driven them away. Despite my willingness it was NOT TO BEE.

The next day Lynn Warren’s crew came again and spent hours cutting up the tree.

Days before the storm I was quite happy as I had planted ferns and other plants where we had relocated the path. I knew the rain would help them settle in. In the photo above, these plants were located just underneath the left track of the equipment. This entire part of the garden was churned up to just mud, after the machine was through. Time to start over!

When working with nature, one must accept whatever wins, large or small, one can receive. The photo above shows the downed tree. Last month we had installed the new birdhouses. When the tree came thundering to the ground, two branches neatly went on either side of the bird houses leaving them intact. It is time now to rethink the woodland garden, there is more sun, fewer plants left, and some trunk remnants too big to haul away. I am looking forward to planning what to do with the shard of the trunk left – stay tuned as I might have an interesting idea. Just as with the bird houses, life in a garden always changes, but some things remain and only nature gets to dictate the final outcome. And the bees, well maybe they are happier in their new home. Larry has asked me to let him put a hive in my yard later in the year. The answer then is still TO BEE!