Posts Tagged: Jasminum nudiflorum

Golden Moments

It blooms in winter and the bees love it.

Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), a rambling vine with trumpetlike yellow flowers, is charming visitors in the Storer Gardens at the University of California, Davis. The plant originates from western China.

The six-petaled blossoms gleam like gold in the wintry garden. When the pelting rain strikes them, they look like delighted kindergarteners splashing around in yellow raincoats.

Don’t be surprised to see winter jasmine among the selections in the half-acre bee friendly garden being planned at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. The nationwide landscape design competition, which ends Jan. 30, is sponsored by Häagen-Dazs. The garden is expected to be a reality by October.

Unfortunately, the winter jasmine has no fragrance. But that doesn’t stop the bees from greeting and hugging the flowers and gathering pollen. It would take the long beak of a hummingbird to reach into the trumpetlike flower for the nectar. Or a carpenter bee to slit the corolla and steal the nectar.

But for now, on the afternoon of Jan. 24, 2009, the moments are golden.

Six-Petaled Flower

SIX-PETALED FLOWER--A honey bee forages on a winter jasmine in the Storer Gardens, University of California, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee Hug
Bee Hug

BEE HUG--If there ever were a "bee hug," this is it. This honey bee is totally wrapped around the winter jasmine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee in Blossom

BEE IN BLOSSOM--A honey bee checks out the winter jasmine in the Storer Gardens on Jan. 24, 2009 at the University of California, Davis. Note the golden pollen on her leg.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Head First!

HEAD FIRST--Oblivious to everything but the blossom of this winter jasmine, a pollen-packing honey bee dives in. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 4:52 PM

Comments: 0

Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey

Tags: Haagen-Dazs (6), Jasminum nudiflorum (1), Storer Gardens (4), winter jasmine (2)