The other day as I watered the garden patch, I pondered why squash plants were not considered to be some elaborate, sought after plant for flower gardens. The leaves are attractive, the blooms are exquisite and the plants are relatively easy to grow. Then as an added benefit, you get squash to eat! It seems to me that everyone should plant squash! In fact, even though I have two rows in the vegetable plot, I opted to plant a dozen more plants in front of the moonflower fence! I figured the bright yellow blooms would look right nice with the backdrop of large, white moonflower blooms!
Then a day later, the blooms caught my eye again. This time, it was because a bee was busying itself inside the blossom. The fat, little bee was collecting so much pollen that it appeared to be covered with gold dust! The once solid black bee had on pollen pants! Seeing this gave me another reason to love squash.
Our pollen-collecting bees (of all types) are being put in danger on a daily basis and I am not referring to the so-called "murder hornet" (don't even get me started on the media hype about that!). People are putting the bees in danger by using so many insecticides. Yep, I am in a tizzy about the caterpillars on my four o'clock leaves but I am sure not going to douse everything with insecticides. The sprays are not discriminate to the point that they kill only certain "pests" and not the beneficial insects. I figure if the caterpillars stay on the four o'clock leaves perhaps they will forgo the tomato plants. Also, I am depending on the lizards, wrens and ground wasps to do their jobs! That way, I can enjoy watching the bees pollinate my lovely squash and the bees will not be in peril.
Home repairs and yard work both rule my days when weather permits. Today, I painted. Since the Little Bayou House sits up several feet off the ground and since I prefer not to have raccoons, coyotes or bobcats prowling about under that house, we installed lattice panels from the house to the ground. This lattice is an ugly "cedar" color. Trust me when I say, it is not cedar color at all. It is orange. This would be all fine and dandy if I painted the house black and had orange lattice as I could claim that the Little Bayou House was decorated for Halloween year round! But, it is not so the orange stood out like a sore thumb. Most of it now matches the house color which is a vast improvement.
It was while I was painting that I inadvertently did something that made me feel like a bumbling oaf. While improving our place, I managed to do great damage to a friend's place. When I was moving to a different spot, I threw the doormat (I was using as a kneeling pad) right smack-dab atop a ground bee's hole! Oh, my goodness. The little bee was not happy. She did not attempt to sting me but frantically searched for her hole. It did not take me long to jump up and move the mat once I realized what I had done. My poor, sweet friend could not find the hole because the mat had scraped dirt over it. Ok, after apologizing profusely (yes, I did go there), I gently blew the dirt off of her nesting hole so she could repair any damage and go about her business. Her little "saddlebags" were laden with pollen so I knew she had to hurry about her work. Geez! I felt terrible!
I admit to not being up on all of the some 70,000 species of bees but was told that this particular bee is called a "polyester bee" or a Colletes inaequalis. Sounds strange but, hey, I am good with it. The female bee supposedly lines her nesting hole with a polyester like substance. She fills this with pollen and a glandular liquid and then lays a single egg at the top before sealing the polyester sack. The little one hatches and feasts upon the nectar left behind for it. Mama Bee digs many such nesting holes and fills each one. The dad does nothing after the initial mating. He goes off to eat a bit, while away his remaining days and die. Little Mama does all the work. This bit of information made me feel even worse than I already did so from that point on, I was extremely careful where I put the mat and my feet! The sweet little bee could keep digging her nests without worry about me. I apologized again. I absolutely hate it when I disrupt my critter friends. Be kind. folks, even to the tiny critters of the world. We are all in this together.
Folks usually have the idea that pollen season is in the spring. While that may be accurate, it is incomplete. Pollen can occur any time of year. Right now, the Bayou is tinted yellow with pollen from ragweed. Both ragweed and goldenrod are in full bloom around here. Between the two, ragweed is the bane of all those with allergies. It is a rare thing for someone to be allergic to goldenrod. To cause problems, the pollen has to be windblown. Ragweed does, indeed, have windblown pollen but goldenrod does not. The goldenrod depends on insects for pollination. The goldenrod has sweet nectar that attracts the insects to do the job. The pollen is not floating about the air causing watery eyes, sneezing and headaches. Put the blame where it belongs...on the ragweed.
This morning, I headed to the pier to check the crab traps. At first, I was fully distracted by the big, ole gator that was lingering by the mouth of the Bayou. This gator demands attention by its sheer size alone. It is huge! After a bit, my attention turned to a yellow sheen atop the water. At the marsh edge, the rising tide left interesting patterns as the filmy pollen wrapped around the grasses. The long feathery streaks seemed to be clinging for dear life to the grasses. As I peered into the water, I pondered how many folks would be heading to the drug store this morning asking for their allergy meds. Goofy ragweed and its airborne pollen wreaks havoc on some folks' sinuses.
Here in the Deep South, you may hear us bemoaning the fact that we have no winter (as compared to those cold months our friends to the north have to endure.) Yes. We know we are lucky not to have to shovel snow, remove ice and shiver and shake all of the time but an occasional flurry of the white stuff would be a wish come true! Having to wear a coat more than the one time (two years ago) would be exciting! Feeling the cold wind blow might be...well, you get the idea. We would like a smidgen of winter now and again. Instead, we have a day or so of chilly (sweater) weather then our next season sets in. Nope. I am not speaking of spring here. Instead our season after our two day winter is called "pollen days"!
Pollen days can come at any given time. It is a time when all vehicles in the Deep South match! For a few weeks, no one drives any car, truck or van that is not yellow! In fact, it does not stop there. Houses are yellow, porch furniture is yellow, pets are yellow, people are yellow. Everything is yellow! Pollen coats everything and everyone! There is not much you can do about it either. This is also the time when a whole lot of folks are walking around bleary-eyed and sniffling. Thankfully, I have yet to be bothered by the allergies associated with the pollen days. Just to clarify things, however, it is not the pine pollen that is the culprit. The oak pollen does cause problems, though, and that is coming next!
This morning, Mark and I made a quick trip to the pier. The tide was low and since the wind was coming out of the west, the water was calm, albeit, yellow. All along the edge of the marsh was a sprinkling of pollen. This sprinkling will soon turn to a heavy layer of the yellow stuff. Once the winds shake a bit more from the pine trees and the oak trees along the edge of the marsh, everything will look mucky. Then, as quickly as this season befell us, our next will enter. Summer! Yeah. We rarely have spring. (Already, the temperatures are reaching the 80s on some days.)
A lot of folks suffer from allergies this time of year and pollen is the biggest threat to their comfort. A few weeks back, these folks were in fear of allergy attacks due to the pine pollen that covered just about everything in sight. Few reports of sniffles, itchy, watery eyes and sneezes resulted from that outburst of pollen flurries since pine pollen is not the culprit. Now, another layer of pollen. It seems that the Deep South is spared the heavy snow storms only to endure the onslaught of heavy pollen storms. Once again, everything has been coated yellow. This does, indeed, make you thankful for the spring rains that also hit the area. Today, was a nice rainy day. The latest layer of pollen has been cleansed from outdoor surfaces and people can breathe again!
This latest bout of complaints of allergies CAN be attributed to the pollen storms of this week. The oak trees are heavy laden with the pollen makers. Oak trees make both male and female "flowers" with the male being most noticeable. The male "flowers' or catkins droop down on all new branches of a mature oak and produce the pollen that causes all the problems for allergy sufferers.
This year, if all goes well, it seems as if there will be a bumper crop of acorns for the critters to munch. Every limb on the oak trees around the Bayou are literally covered with the pollen producing catkins. On sunny, dry days, that pollen floats on the breeze and pollinates the female flowers but, also, coats everything else. So....it is the oak pollen that folks should deem as the "evil one" even though without it, there would be no acorns. Things all have a way of working for the good. Folks, if need be, go take your allergy medicines as it is going to be a rough spring for you. The oak trees are blooming.
The Pollen Makers...coming to your town soon! Yep, here in the Deep South, we are experiencing that lovely "yellow" time of year. It is definitely early but pollen is floating around causing everything to be yellow until the daily rain comes to wash it away. It is also the time of year that a lot of folks are never without a tissue and their allergy pills simply because, once they see the yellow, they think they will soon be sniffling.
Just yesterday, a friend asked about the "yellow flowers" that could be seen from the roadside. "Up in the trees, there are these bright yellow flowers! What are they? They sure make the woods pretty!" Those, my friend, are not what you think. The pine trees are doing their reproductive thing and have put out their soft cones. From a distance, the funky "soft cones" do indeed look a lot like yellow flowers. Soft cones are pollen producers (male cones) and depend on the wind to disperse the pollen to the female cones or hard cones. Pine trees produce both soft and hard cones. The soft cones (which people think are flowers) are on the lower branches of the trees with the hard cones on the upper branches. This is to keep the pollen from just falling on the female cones and promotes fertilization with other trees.
Once my friend heard that these were not flowers but what were causing all of the pollen, an immediate dislike of the "flowers" occurred. "Ugh! Pollen! All that does is cause allergies!" Once again, an explanation was due. Nope. Pine pollen does not cause allergy attacks. The pollen is actually good for you and can be found in health food stores and down the vitamin aisle of the drug store. Trying to explain this to my friend was a lot like talking to a brick wall. The worst thing pine pollen does is make your car yellow.
So, the yellow flowers are not flowers. Not all pollen causes itchy, watery eyes and sniffles. And some folks just do not listen to reason.
Early this afternoon, the cooling breeze demanded that I take a hike! While the house seemed hot, outside was pleasantly comfortable. The hike meandered around the gardens and finally to the west side of the house. Just a few steps from the little walkway flanked by herbs, a slight buzzing sound could be heard. It seems that I am not the only one that loves my herbs! Bees have literally swarmed to the blossoms of the Florence Fennel and are taking full advantage of the pollen. The yellow blooms were crawling with numerous types of bees and even a few wasps. This was surprising to me as just a few feet from the fennel were dozens of Ruby Lilies in full bloom. Nary a bee (nor wasp) could be found buzzing about those blooms even though they are highly aromatic. There just has to be something about that Fennel pollen! I knew the plants were good for you and the seeds are amazingly tasty but what about that pollen?
A bit of research showed where the Fennel pollen is indeed sought after by, not only bees, but humans. Just recently, the pollen has become recognized as an exciting culinary spice. Obviously, the pollen packs quite the wham to a number of dishes. It can be added to meats, salads and even breads! Come to find out, I am missing out on the most potent part of the Fennel!
Another thing that was surprising (and a bit saddening) was the fact that even though there were hundreds of bees on the Fennel, not one was a honeybee. Perhaps they do not like the potent pollen and search out sweeter nectar. Earlier in the year, the roses, jasmine and citrus trees were loaded with honeybees but I never noticed any other type. I suppose bees have selective tastes just like humans. Sweet nectar must be needed to make honey whereas pollen can be used to feed bee larvae. Since these bees and wasps were most likely stowing food away for their unhatched eggs, it stands to reason that the pollen would suffice. Smart bees. And if that pollen is so tasty, I now want to find a way to harvest it! Perhaps this will be my new "spice" of the year! And since it is priced at around $10 per half ounce, I will harvest and not buy! Wouldn't it be great if I could train bees to harvest pollen for me?
It must be spring even though the likelihood of a late freeze or at least a heavy frost is high I am making my assumption purely on a find in the waters of the Bay. No, this is not some rare fish that only comes around with warmth of the change of seasons yet, rather, pollen. A thick layer of the yellow stuff has washed across the Bay and has piled up against the shoreline on my side. Although this makes for an unsightly mess, it is harmless and natural so I do not fret over it. The next low tide will take it all out to be churned under the waves. Still, for now, I have a "yellow" Bayou!
The pollen count for the area is at an all time high and will be for the next few weeks. This can easily be seen by folks driving around in yellow cars and by the speed at which allergy medicines are flying off the drug stores' shelves. So far, I just deal with it. A few herbs now and again to clear the head and I am good. I had to snicker a bit when an allergist recommended that folks use their air conditioners to filter the pollen. Well, SORRY! That just ain't happening! Seriously, it is impossible since the fine cooling system of preference in the Little Bayou House is the cooling breeze coming off the Bay! There is just not much way to filter that!
Pollen problems aside, it being springlike has given me the urge to plant. I am highly anxious to rid the gardens of cabbages and start tomatoes, peppers, squash, okra and the such. Winter has drawn on far too long and the taste for greens and root crops has withered. I NEED summer veggies! The gardens are prepped and I shall be seeding the rest of the hotbeds soon. (Bell peppers and tomato seedlings are already up!)
So, Folks, if you are bothered by an allergy to pollen, I have one suggestion. Think back to the long, hard winter, If that is not enough to make you appreciate pollen and the coming of spring, I don't know what else to say except, "Here, have a tissue!"
