What's the buzz? Great Sunflower Project still counting bees

Lemon Queen sunflowers attract plenty of bees to the Fremont Garden in midtown Sacramento. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Help pollinators by planting sunflowers (or other favorites)

By Debbie Arrington

Can you hear the buzz? If you grow sunflowers, those blooms most likely are attracting their share of bees. And if you're trying to count bees, sunflowers are a good place to start.

That's how the Great Sunflower Project started. One of the nation's largest citizen science efforts, the project is simple: Gardeners plant sunflowers or other bee-friendly plants, then keep tabs on the traffic.

The project's preferred plant is the Lemon Queen sunflower because of its proven reliability to attract pollinators. It's also very easy to grow.

And it's not too late to plant a few (more) sunflower seeds; they'll bloom in September and into fall.

Since its beginnings in 2008, the Great Sunflower Project has recorded thousands of bees and other pollinators, one backyard or park at a time. Citizen scientists (a.k.a. gardeners and interested observers) count the bees and pollinators they see, recording the time, date and type of plants that attracted the buzz. That allows researchers to get a better idea of the overall health of our nation's bee population including in suburban areas such as Sacramento.

Honeybees and other pollinators are still threatened by pesticides, fungal disease and other maladies. Providing them a ready food source helps attract them to our gardens, where they also pollinate our fruit and vegetables. It's a win-win for gardeners and pollinators.

The Great Sunflower Project also is a fun summer science project for kids. They can be in charge of pollinator monitoring. All it takes is five minutes to start. For complete instructions and how to get started, click on www.greatsunflower.org.