The Best BOMBs: Blue Orchard Mason Bees!

By Katie Vincent, Garden Hotline Educator

Honeybees may be cute, popular and extra fuzzy, but the real proboscis behind most of our region’s fruit crops is a completely different arthropod: the blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria). Why Choose Mason Bees? Native to North America, mason bees get their common name from their habit of patching up naturally occurring holes with […]

tree ambassadors

Winter Tree Pruning

Sue Hartman, Garden Hotline Educator

Winter is a perfect time to prune many trees in the Pacific NW. In the Seattle area, dormancy begins in late November or December when plant growth becomes temporarily inactive. This enables a tree to survive freezing temperatures. Dormancy usually lasts until mid-February, depending on Mother Nature. During this time, the bare branches of a […]