Call Me The Bee Whisperer

Today I was making my weekly trip to my favorite u-cut dahlia place.

The place that I got to is at a house and they have quite a few plants in a side garden that you can cut.  Good selection and a rainbow of colors.

The dahlias are a little side business for the residence.  They primarily keep bees and harvest the honey - they have an apiary (tons of bee hives) and they sell their honey at their home and local farmers markets.

SOOOOoooo, today while I am picking my dahlias the lady that lives in the house was chatting with me.  I am a regular customers so she knows that I LOVE dahlias. LOVE THEM.  She asked me if I was afraid of bees and I told her not really.  She then told me if I wanted to walk thru their big honey/hive/bee production area in the backyard there were a ton of dahlias growing back there and I could pick all I wanted for FREE.  Now keep in mind as I walk back there that there are thousands of bees buzzing around. THOUSANDS OF BEES!  Lots of hives and the air is thick with the little buzzing creatures. Bzzzzzz

Can you see all the bees on this cloth?

BUT I WAS ON A MISSION FOR FREE ALL YOU CAN CUT DAHLIAS.  Those bees did not scare me one bit!

Here are a few of the bees houses - there were at least a couple hundred of them spread thru the backyard.

So I calmly cut dahlias with all the bees buzzing away as I clipped.  As and ADDED BONUS (yes, it gets better) the woman had some old flower carriers that she had recently got from the estate of a friend who had passed away.  So not only did I get FREE dahlias, I got four FREE old handmade flower buckets.

I love these carriers. They still have the deceased woman's name on tape on them - Ruth Westerberg.  It only adds to their homemade charm.

Once I get home I have such an abundance of dahlias. I figure it calls for the grand-daddy punch bowl arrangement.

I have two punch bowls that I can choose from.  The one on the left is an estate sale find.  The other was a wedding gift to my in-laws years ago and was passed to me awhile ago.

I used a large loose ball of chicken wire to help secure the stems.

I am in dahlia heaven and am bee sting free.  I feel like I have walked with the bees and they are my friends....what a great day!

Comments

[twinkle beverages]

Magpie Ethel,
Reading your blog is one of my favorite things. Have a peaceful evening.
Kindly,
Twinkle
Beverages
I think your rain is coming our way...Yippee!

[*elaine*]

Hey Laurie The dahlia's are beautiful and you were much braver than I would of been with all those bees buzzin' round me! I can deal w/ some bees...but 1000's are just too much!! The punchbowl arrangement is awesome...chicken wire, huh? wondered how you were gonna get them to stand up in a punchbowl. Pretty colors, too Have a great Friday *e*

[Elma Riedstra]

I love your blog to. It makes my day:) Love the flowers and all for free??? What a great day!!

[Gina]

oh you are too funny..I love dahlias and you got some beautys..not sure if I could have done what you did today..getting better...but I think it would have freaked me out just a bit today...:)

[georgiapeachez]

Oh! you always get me! I love bees, I've always wanted to have my own hives. Maybe one day if I move to the country. Those dahlias are so beautiful! xo, suzy

[Jessica/Domestic PDX]

What a fun post! Thank you for sharing this great story.

[barbara]

I loved going on your adventure! I was kinda jealous of the 25-cent dahlias, but free - wow! I'm sure there's a great lesson in how being friends with all things great and small brings rewards of all kinds. Enjoy your pretty posies, Laurie!

[one gal's trash]

Great story Ethel!
xo
Dot

[Chris]

Some people just radiate positive bee-friendly energy, I guess. In the springtime, we get lots of wood-boring bees -- one year we decided to upgrade the bees' pole barn "homestead" by enclosing it with metal and then spraying in foam insulation, figuring they'd find somewhere else to bore and breed. Guess what--the wood-boring bees switched gears and became the FOAM-boring bees! Industrious little buggers, aren't they? And how lucky for you to get all those free dahlias!!

[Carol]

The dahlias are just "dahling"! If that's what I had to do to get 25 cent dahlias, I just might consider it! Even though I'm allergic to bees! It's like you were on one of those reality shows, like Fear Factor! "Can Laurie pick a bouquet of dahlias, in 30 seconds, without being attacked by a swarm of bees?"