The Nectar Garden

This garden, originally built  by the Sope Creek Garden Club,  is designed to display native perennials which are good nectar sources. The garden, with it's stacked rail fence, also serves as a boundary to visitors who want to observe the bee hives, maintained by members of the Metro Atlanta Beekeeper's Association. The garden is designed to maintain a free flyway from the front of the hive to the the adjacent pasture. Planting areas are to the right, left and behind the hive.  Cobb County Master Gardener Volunteers now maintain the Nectar Garden.
 

The Honey Bee  


As you walk through the park you should see bees gathering nectar (carbohydrate) and pollen (protein) from the blossoms of plants and trees. They are also gathering water and visiting the trees where they collect sticky substances (propolis). The nectar and pollen are their primary foods. The water is used for their “air conditioning system,” and the propolis, meaning “for the house,” is used to varnish the inside of the hive, seal the cracks and “glue” the various parts to form a strong structure.

There are probably about 40,000 bees in this beehive. The adult bees forage as far away as 10 Kilometers and must make as many as 75 such trips to produce even a gram of honey. The work of foraging for the colony is so demanding that the bees die after about three weeks of this strenuous activity.

The nectar garden is maintained by the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County.

The hives are maintained by  members of the North Metro Beekeepers’ Assoc.

 

 

 

 

(position your curser at the lower right hand corner for the answers)

What is the major benefit we derive from bees?

How many flowers must bees visit in order to produce one pound of honey?

What "farmer" produces food only for himself - yet without him, the world's food supply would suffer, and some foods would become extinct?