Making Honey with California Native Flowers

                  Phacelia grandifloria, Topanga Canyon, Photo by Kathy Vilim

We’re making honey out here in Southern California. How do we do it? Well, beekeepers are taking advantage of some of nature’s finest resources: flowering native plants! Luckily, the hillsides are covered with blooming natives in the coastal mountains from Santa Barbara down to Baja, including here in Topanga Canyon, home to Topanga Quality Honey.

Many California plants have nectar that is delicious to the honeybee. Beekeepers take their bees to a meadow where wildflowers such as largeflower phacelia (above) are blooming in the spring. When those blossoms fade, they move to a hillside of white sage or buckwheat (below), which bloom into fall.


      California Buckwheat, Topanga, Photo by Kathy Vilim

California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) has an abundance of flowers—creamy white, tinged with pink. As they mature, the flowers turn to a rust color. "Viewing wild hillsides covered with the coppery seed heads of California buckwheat is a uniquely Western experience," wrote Carol Bornstein, co-author of California Native Plants for the Garden. The honey made from this plant is sought for its dark, full-bodied flavor as well as its nutritional value."—Kathy Vilim of Topanga Canyon, California

The above post was written in June, 2010 for the National Wildlife Federation's "Gold Medal Favorites" feature. Thank you, Kelly Senser, for the opportunity to share my photos of plants for pollinators. 


For full NWF article: http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Gardening/Archives/2010/Native-Plants-for-Pollinators.aspx

We're Making Honey Out Here in Southern California!

 Phacelia grandiflora

We're making honey out here in Southern California.  And how do we do it?  Well, beekeepers are taking advantage of some of nature's finest resources:  Flowering Native Plants!  Many  California plants have nectar that is delicious to the honeybee:  Buckwheat, Sage, Cactus Flowers and Wildflowers.  Beekeepers take their bees to a meadow where Wildflowers are blooming in the Spring, and then when those blossoms are done they move to a hillside of Sage or Buckwheat, which bloom into the Fall.

Luckily, the hillsides are covered with blooming natives in the Coastal Mountains from Santa Barbara down to Baja. including Topanga Canyon, home to Topanga Quality Honey.  This diversity makes for a delicious variety of honeys, and makes for some happy local bees, as well.

California Buckwheat. (Erigonum fasciculatum) 

This drought tolerant native blooms all Summer, even into Fall.  It has an abundance of flowers, creamy white, tinged with pink.  As they mature, the flowers turn to a rust color.  "Viewing hillsides covered with the coppery seedheads of California Buckwheat is a uniquely Western Experience." As expressed in Carol Bornstein's California Native Plants for the Garden.  The honey  made from this plant is sought after for its dark, full bodied flavor, as well as its high antioxidant and nutritional value.

Purple Sage (Salvia Leucophylla) Introduced into cultivation in California by Theodore Payne.

The bees of the Santa Monica Mountains are lucky to have such an abundant and diverse source of native plants to feed from.  And, we are lucky too, as this allows us to enjoy a variety of unique tasting honeys.  By adding native plants to your yard or garden, you can help add to the biodiversity in California or the State you live in.  As 'top dog' on this planet, the job falls on us to act also as good stewards of all we have inherited.



You can visit a Honey Tasting Room at Bennett Farms, Ventura, CA.
And find out more about the Research they are doing into Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Before Summer Takes the Wildflowers Away

Before Summer takes them all away, I wanted to share with you some Topanga Canyon wildflowers that I photographed in April and  May.

Living in the Santa Monica Mountains, I am able to see these flowers every day on walks with my dog, or hikes on the many trails of the California State Parks, even in my own backyard.

Topanga Canyon, situated in the Santa Monica Mountains just outside Los Angeles, is so magical: you can forget you are outside a large urban sprawl.  I invite my friends up a lot this time of year to hike.  They are always amazed at the flowers they see here that they don't get to see "in town."  While annuals like petunias and begonias and such are cheery and colorful, they are no match for the wildflowers, so alive and free!

Matilija Poppies Romneya coulteri with Purple Showy Penstemon Penstemon spectabilis (above), California Buckwheat Eriogonum fasciculatum (right), Monkey Flowers Mimulus Diplacus aurantiacus (below), Daisies (below), Mustard, Sage, Milkweed, Lupines, CA Poppies .. all cover the hillsides with color in the Spring, delighting us with meadows full of bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and of course blooms!

Hawk Circles gliding effortlessly

It was the loveliest day yesterday in the 80's, instead of 90's. I sat on the backyard steps, watching a hawk gliding effortlessly on the breezes. Behind him a jet plane made its stiff flight.. unreal. Soft breezes made their way up the canyon to me. I let them wash over me & soaked in the dappled sun. So much life all around me. The heads of the Buckwheat dark brown now after Summer. The ground so dry. Everything waiting for the first rain. The long golden grass, matted down. My eyes adjust to take in the little houses on the opposite hillside far away..