Did you know that California is home to roughly 1,600 species of native bees?!  While most people can recognize a honey bee and perhaps a bumble bee, few are aware that so many other types are pollinating our native, ornamental, and agricultural plants. In this 2-hour talk, you will learn about the importance of these pollinators, their biology and ecology, including info on their lifecycle and nesting needs.  You will learn about the most common native bees visiting medicinal herb gardens during each season, as well as their very favorite plants.  Jaime will provide info on how to start your own bee garden to encourage these valuable pollinators to visit your own home habitat. 

Jaime Pawelek is a native bee biologist and gardener in Richmond, CA.  She has been studying native bees since 2005 and loves teaching people about bees, as well as designing gardens for bees and other pollinators.  She currently works as a bee taxonomist (identifying bees to species) at UC Berkeley, where she got her B.S. in Conservation and Resources Studies.  Jaime spent several years traveling all over California (and Costa Rica!) studying the relationships between bees and their favorite flowers.  She has given educational talks to Master Gardeners, Native Plant Society Chapters, Beekeeper Associations, garden clubs, and schools and she loves sharing her passion for pollinators.

Jaime began taking classes at Gathering Thyme in the summer of 2016 and started caring for one of the herbal gardens as part of her studies.  Growing her own medicine has helped her expand her botanical knowledge and has given her a new love of plants for their nourishment and healing properties.  Jaime has been gardening professionally for several years and specializes in growing organic food, cut flowers, herbs, fruit, pollinator plants, native plants and now medicinal herbs!  She has been amazed to learn that most of her favorite bee-plants are also valuable medicinal plants, like California poppy, gumplant, and calendula.