CFS and the Bears and the Bees!

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There have been many nature/wildlife days recently. The Chelsea Flower Show took place virtually. It is always uplifting to see such an explosion of colour. Indeed, the flower show took on an extra dimension for me when I took a photo in my front garden of a flower which looked unusual. It was for the #McQueenNature task set by Alexander McQueen on Instagram. To my surprise, I saw the exact same flower, known as Granny's Bonnet (Aquilegia Vulgaris) on Gardener's World 1 around #GardenDayUK in Will Young's garden, no less! That was exciting! I had to rewatch that section of the TV programme again to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me! I then read about it and discovered it is a flower with what is called hooked spurs on the back of its flowerhead and they can be pink, purple, blue or white. It's an European flower, often found in meadows but is a popular garden flower too from the Columbine species. It can be poisonous although it is used as an ingredient in herbal medicine and apparently legend has it that if you carry a bunch of these flowers it'll boost your love life - but best not to try it though in case you accidentally poison yourself. If I'm not mistaken, the white variety was given the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. 
Here's a photo I took of my Granny's Bonnet in my front garden. You can clearly see the spurs, one closed and one open.  

As I mentioned on my Instagram, I am constantly pleasantly surprised to find what is growing in my wildlife garden which I nurture for its biodiversity. I feel strongly that people should be encouraged to cultivate gardens, not concrete parking lots instead of front gardens. Most households have a minimum of 2 cars many have more. This means that if you live in a street with 20 properties there are 40+ cars in that one street. In an area of say 4 streets that becomes 160+ cars. So it is not difficult to see how pollution adversely affects the atmosphere and people's respiratory health! May was Clean Air Month but it had no impact on people. Cars were still being used for local shopping! My garden is a small haven (in the midst of concrete frontages, patios and manicured lawns) for birds, insects, animals and plants. It's a place where biodiversity can flourish. Unfortunately, people have no concept of what a wildlife garden is, merely seeing it as overgrown and so an excuse to dump their rubbish into it thereby endangering the wildlife and annoying me with their ignorance. How are children going to be motivated to protect and care for the planet if their parents are disrespectful towards nature at home and in the neighbouring garden? Maybe it would be an idea for schools to run ecology classes for parents so they practise biodiversity at home, enriching their children's education and impacting positively on the environment for the benefit of all! We have just had World Environment Day (June 5th) which is nice but useless unless people, especially parents, encourage their children to respect nature and interact with it in their gardens, if they have one. If not, it's still possible to maybe buy plants and have them indoors. My granny always had plants in her flat! That is why I prefer plants to cut flowers. I bought a rose plant for a couple of pounds with a label warning that the plant would only last 2 weeks. I still have that rose plant and it's budding flowers and thriving!

During the Chelsea Flower Show week (18th - 23rd May) it was also Bear Awareness Week. I love bears and suspect we all do because we have been given teddy bears when children and have Winnie the Pooh read to us and have followed the adventures of Paddington Bear. But, how much do we really know about bears?

There are 8 species of bears2: Brown Bears; Polar Bears ( who are turning to cannibalism out of desperation and hunger caused by global warming); Giant Panda Bears (which are the most at risk of extinction); Andean bears (aka speckled bears, which are the only bears that live in South America); Sun Bears; Sloth Bears (the only bears to live within a small group); Asian Black Bears; American Black Bears (who love human food, especially sweets); Malayan Sun Bears (the smallest and most aggressive bears). Within each of these species are subspecies such as, the Grizzly Bear (powerful and the largest) which is a subcategory within the brown bear species.

Within the same week there was World Bee Day (May 20th). Bees are not creatures that inspire an exclamation of 'ah' about them yet they are crucial. One, they are vital to pollination, with as much as 75% of crops being pollinated by bees e.g. Apples, strawberries, beans, tomatoes, courgettes, nuts and seeds, and plants to name a few3. Two, bees are essential for biodiversity as well as creating honey which is healthy and has medicinal4,5 properties: antiseptic and antibacterial; antifungal; antiviral; flavinoids; antioxidants; anti-inflammatory. Honey controls cholesterol; treats gastric problems by helping recovery from diarrhoea; fights infection; boosts energy; stimulates our immune system by encouraging growth of cytokines which are in control of our immune response; prevents nausea; promotes good sleep by maintaining good levels of liver glycogen; fights asthma; combats dandruff and improves skin health; treats colds and problematic coughs and breathing difficulties; good for cardiovascular health. It is a natural healer, is good for diabetics, protects the brain from brain damage and also helps to keep the memory sharp by fighting inflammation in the hippocampus. It also reduces pollution. Because of its antibacterial properties, honey protects the body against further damage to the body while it is fighting off infection. Niacin; riboflavin; pathogenic acid; calcium; magnesium; manganese; potassium; phosphorus; and zinc are the vitamins and minerals found in honey. Raw honey kills off pathogens, such as e-coli and h pylori. It also heals wounds by releasing oxygen from the wound. Given honey's numerous health benefits, no wonder it is used extensively by the Chinese in their medicines!

I have a variety of bees in my garden who are kept busy with all the flowers and leaves so they have no interest in me! So it's not that there aren't many bees around it's that people are not creating the right environment for them in their gardens. Bees like long grass for shelter so, I find, cultivating very long grass attracts them to your garden. Also, an often forgotten tip is to leave a little water out for them in a tiny pot so they can drink. Mine certainly like having a drink of water!

A third of the world's food production depends on bees yet they are in danger of becoming extinct! An interesting point I read on the UNESCO website5 is that what threatens bees also causes diseases like Covid 19 e.g. using pesticide and other agricultural practices (because it decreases bees resistance to parasites) and, of course, loss of habitat.

The message is: Create a welcoming environment in your garden for bees to flourish so you promote biodiversity and so there's plenty of honey for us to consume and be healthy! Although don't eat too much of it because it has high levels of sugar and don't selfishly bulk buy it now you know it's vital to health.

There are many initiatives to encourage people to respect and feel involved with nature in their own backyard. Nature is healthy, not only because it cleans the air, but also because it enhances mental and emotional health which is something everybody talks about these days. Let's all allow our gardens to grow wild so encouraging vital biodiversity which not only promotes a feel good factor but takes care of our overall health.




 
1 Episode 8, available to watch on the BBC iPlayer for 10 months from the 8th May 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hyb4/gardeners-world-2020-episode-8

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