Ginny Geiger, a member of the Dade City Garden Club, delivered an entertaining and informative program on the importance of bees at the Hugh Embry Library.
Geiger led the “Nature Detectives Bee Workshop,” dispensing information and, at one point, demonstrating how a bee might act, if a wasp — an enemy of the bee — approached the hive.
In her hour-long workshop, Geiger talked about the importance of bees as pollinators.
The western honey bee, according to the University of Florida, IFAS Extension, is conceivably the most important pollinator in Florida and American Agricultural landscapes.
Bees are critical to the food chain, and without them much of the fruits and vegetables at local supermarkets would disappear.
Besides talking about the importance of bees, Geiger also gave the children a chance to try their hand at making a bee.
The workshop, held during National Garden Week, was sponsored by the Dade City Garden Club, in coordination with the Hugh Embry Library.
The program was first developed by the St. Augustine Garden Club and is recognized by the American Library Association.
Everyone who took part received a bee swag bag — containing things to do, fun facts, a packet of flower seeds, honey samples and a copy of the book “You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Bees.”
By Christine Holtzman
Published June 20, 2018
Deborah Roberts, of Zephyrhills, helps her grandson, 5-year-old Kaeden Roberts, construct a model bee during one of the hands-on activities given recently at the Nature Detectives Bee Workshop at the Hugh Embry Library.
