Garden Photo of the Day

A Hudson Valley bee skep

Michelle Gervais, Senior Editor

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Michelle Gervais

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Michelle Gervais

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Photo: Michelle Gervais

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A couple of weekends ago I went on a whirlwind tour of some Hudson Valley (New York) gardens with a couple of gardening buddies. I'll be featuring some of the sights we saw this week.

I'll start slow with a cute little bee skep we spotted in the herb garden at Boscobel in Garrison, New York. Every time I see a bee skep, I want one for my own garden--they're so cute! But I've never actually seen bees take up residence in a skep. Have you? According to Wikipedia (who we should all trust completely, right? Ha!), it's actually illegal to keep bees in skeps in many countries, including the US. Apparently, in order to harvest the honey the bees produce in a skep, you almost always have to destroy the bees. Not very nice. Most of the skeps you see now are purely for looks. If you want to encourage bees to a skep for the purpose of harvesting honey, search for a skep that has a second vessel on top to make harvesting the honey (which the bees produce in the upper vessel) a little less gruesome. **I have not been able to find one online, sadly. Here's a bit more info on skeps.

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One tough tree

Comments (3)

vhdno writes: I have an antique bee skep that I use indoors for decoration. The shop where I bought mine still has some. Rug Chic Home Decor in Mandeville, LA. Mine is woven from vines and has an old piece of electrical wire for a handle. Posted: 5:05 pm on July 21st

wittyone writes: Bee skeps are a perfect look for a cottage garden. Love them! They aren't difficult to make if you know a bit about basketweaving. I've tried, but mine always come out looking pretty lopsided and inexpertly made. Very wabi-sabi I guess, but I always end up getting rid of my production. Maybe practice makes perfect?

Posted: 12:33 pm on July 4th

shibi writes: I read (somewhere other than Wikipedia) that skeps tended to harbor bacteria dangerous to bees, and that is why it is illegal to raise bees in skeps. Posted: 8:01 am on July 4th

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