Megachile fortis from Badlands National Park, SD. Photo courtesy of the USGS Bee Lab website

I love talking about bees and gardening. Please contact me if you’d like me to come talk to your group. I’ve got a few talks available but am always happy to customize it for your group.

Available talks:

  • Masons, Miners, and Thieves—The Real Lives of America’s Bees Did a bee go extinct because of greenhouse tomatoes? Why is a bee nicknamed Cinderella? Follow a gardener’s adventures into the field with bee scientists and farmers to explore the lives of bees. Tucked into stories where bees build turrets and paint walls are lessons on how bees live—and how our gardens can help them. Based on the book Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them.
  • Meet the Neighbors—Bees in PNW Gardens
    Gardens can be a haven for all sorts of bees. The U.S. and Canada have 4000 species of bees. The Columbia Basin has nearly 650 species, Seattle has nearly 100 (so far). Learn about our bees–who they are, how to recognize them, what makes them different from a wasp. Discover hands-on ways to help bees both locally, by modifying your garden, and globally, by participating in citizen science projects like the Washington Bee Atlas.
  • Gardening for Bees and Other Pollinators This talk covers the basics. What is a bee and how does one tell a bee from some of its lookalikes? Who are some of our bees and how are they different from honey bees? What do bees and other pollinators need and how does one make a home for them in the garden? This talk is fairly informal and aimed at smaller groups since I bring books, bees, and other visual aids. It can be run without audiovisual equipment and is ideal for nurseries where good pollinator plants can be brought in and talked about.
  • Master Gardener Talk: Bees and Other Insect Pollinators in the Garden Developed for Master Gardener training but can work for anyone interested in learning more about wild bees, flies, wasps and leps (butterflies and moths).
  • “The Book Talk” This talk is not just about bees–it’s also about how an ex-geologist, occasional horticulture professional, mother of two came to write a book about native bees.