Master Gardeners to Present 'Bee Wise…Plant Natives'

Allegheny County and the Penn State Master Gardeners will present “Bee Wise…Plant Natives,” a free program that teaches the value of bees as pollinators, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6, in the Allegheny County Courtyard at 436 Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Burgh Bees, which partners with Penn State Cooperative Extension, will also be in the Courtyard with samples of different varieties of honey. Representatives will help participants learn to identify different native bees that visit area gardens.

Burgh Bees hosts a community apiary in Homewood, and is involved in plans for a similar site in Brookline. Those plans have not yet been approved by the City of Pittsburgh.

During the event, master gardeners will also provide information on the importance of using native plants in landscaping and how to incorporate environmentally-friendly practices in garden maintenance. The first 50 visitors will receive a native perennial.

In 2009, the four existing planters in the Courthouse Courtyard were retrofitted and converted into rain gardens. Four downspouts were diverted into the planting beds, and the planters were filled with new soil and drainage material. Drought tolerant native plants were then placed in the new gardens.