Gillian Bolter Fine Gardening

07/18/2026

The Moment ~ by Margaret Atwood.
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
Artist: Kevin Kia

05/21/2026

Today is World Bee Day!

They are 20,000 different bees in the world, about 4000 are native to the United States, with 1600 different species found in California!

Now let’s talk about bumblebees!

They are one of the groups of native bees. “The body of a bumble bee generally has lots of black hair with contrasting bands of yellow, red, or white. Different species have different color patterns. Bumble bees are as large as or larger than honeybees.”

California Bees & Blooms (by G. Frankie et al, Heyday Press, 2014) tells us that ten of the 26 native bumble bee species have been found in residential gardens, but only three are common.

🔹The Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosnesenkii)

🔹The California Bumble Bee (B. californicus)

🔹The Black-Tailed Bumble Bee (B. melanopygus)

In this photo is a Yellow-Faced Bumblebee who moves relatively slowly among the flowers, compared to other bees. You can recognize them by their fuzzy chunky bodies and yellow bands on their backs and abdomens. You can also identify it by its bright yellow facial hair. The female bumble bees’ hind legs will widen to form pollen baskets (corbicula) that are filled with pollen.

Learn more about bumblebees here: https://ucanr.edu/blog/real-dirt/article/bumble-bees-garden

Photo description: female Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) at a yellow lupine.

05/12/2026

https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/posts/pfbid05xfLCzukGYXBJFteLqLB145vfMjNHfUuM2v529ynTrd78ALHcxVh16Pk49vGLuVyl

Ecologist Suzanne Simard transformed the way we understand forests with her research that challenged the old idea that trees live as isolated competitors. While studying Douglas firs in the 1990s, she noticed that they often became sick when nearby paper birch trees were removed, even though those birches were considered weeds.

Curious, she used radioactive carbon isotopes to trace how nutrients moved between trees and discovered that the birch and fir weren’t just competing, they were cooperating. She found that a vast underground network of fungi, which she called the “Wood Wide Web,” connected the trees and allowed them to share resources like carbon. Through this network, birches could send nutrients to firs when they were shaded, helping keep the entire forest healthier and more balanced.

Interconnection is alive and well in nature and humans; the only challenge is we often don't recognize it in either due to our reductionist and materialist cultural norms. This is an area where our worldview must be updated.