Welcome to the WCS fundraising site. If you are NOT looking to purchase as part of a fundraiser, please click here to visit westcoastseeds.com
Welcome to the WCS fundraising site. If you are NOT looking to purchase as part of a fundraiser, please click here to visit westcoastseeds.com
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Garden Wisdom Blog — bees

Plant Flower Seeds for Bees

bees category: Articles and Instructions category: Flower Talk category: Garden Resources flowers how-to pollinators

Plant Flower Seeds for Bees

With pollinator conservation in mind it’s a good idea to plant flower seeds for bees. But which are the best pollinator plants? Which bee flowers are the easiest to sow and grow? What flowers can be grown in containers or schoolyards to attract pollinators? Certain plants produce flowers that are really generous with nectar and pollen in order to ensure good pollination. The plants and the bees (and other insects) that pollinate them have evolved in harmony to form important relationships — one can’t survive without the other, but together they will thrive! So the first consideration is to think...

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Bumble Bees: An Interview with Brian Campbell

bees category: Insects Pests and Diseases

Bumble Bees: An Interview with Brian Campbell

We like to make distinctions that do not exist in the natural world. Bees are descended from wasps and are so closely related we should think of them as wasps with good PR. So, the next time someone says bees are good and wasps are bad please correct them.

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Biodiversity Blend Wildflowers Ingredients

basil bees category: Articles and Instructions category: Flower Talk category: Garden Resources flowers pollinators wildflowers

Biodiversity Blend Wildflowers Ingredients

The Biodiversity Blend provides the widest, most diverse combination of flower types in any of our wildflower blends. There are flowers to tempt every sort of pollinator, but particularly butterflies, wild bees, and hummingbirds. Several species are included that produce edible seeds, so they will continue to nourish songbirds and other critters long after their colour has faded. This mix of perennials and self-sowing annuals is intended to demonstrate one of the foundations of organic growing — that biodiversity begets biodiversity. In diverse systems, plants grow healthier and wildlife is enriched. Basil Ocimum basilicum Bishops Flower Ammi majus Blue Lupin...

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Save The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee

bee blend bee turf bees blog category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Garden Wisdom category: Insects category: Insects Pests and Diseases

Save The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee

Save The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee West Coast Seeds recently launched the hashtag #savetherustypatchbumblebee across our social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We have been encouraging our followers to re-share our post and tag a friend in an effort to attract awareness to this endangered pollinator. An Endangered Species The rusty-patched bumblebee was officially declared endangered in the United States in March 2017. Now on the brink of extinction, this beloved pollinator’s population has dissipated by nearly 90% over the past twenty years. Pesticides, loss of habitat and climate change are just some of the threatening factors which are...

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About Dandelions

bees category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Organic Growing flowers garden-wisdom harvest

About Dandelions

The much maligned dandelion actually has a lot to offer. It has been vilified in our culture as the invader of lawn spaces, thrusting its dazzling yellow colour into an otherwise tranquil field of green. Homeowners pour millions of gallons of weed control chemicals into their lawns each year in a vain attempt to vanquish this foe. So what is it about dandelions that most homeowners hate so much? There is a degree of old fashioned thinking of lawns as symbols of wealth and status. This historical memory seems to harken back to England in the 17th Century, when tightly...

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