Le Jardin du Luxembourg is well known for its lush flowerbeds and impressive statuary. But did you know that the flowers also serve as a source of pollen for the honeybee-residents of the park?
This bee is painted on the gatepost outside the beehive enclosure.
The beehives -- les ruchers -- were abuzz yesterday.
The sign outside the enclosure poetically proclaimed the not-so-secret lovelife of bees and flowers.
"In nature, the bee and the flower desire one another and indulge one another with a true act of love."
Ah, romance!
There will be a sale of honey from the hives on September 20 and 21 in the Pavillon Davioud in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
6 comments:
Beehive is "ruche" actually.. :-)
I always wondered what they did with the honey...
But I'm not sure I want to eat honey from Paris, with the pollution and all...
Thanks for the info though.
I read somewhere that honey made by the parisian bees is tastier than honey from other regions of France, because the bees gather the pollen from a large range of flowers, unlike bees from the countryside that always go to the same area and find the same kind of flowers (or trees).
As for the pollution, they didn't talk about it!
David,
Of course -- I stand corrected. le ruche is the beehive and le rucher is where the beehives are kept.
And yes, Isabelle, the honey is prized for its good taste. Urban beehives are found in major cities all over the world. One major benefit of city beehives is that they are not subject to the widespread use of pesticides in most farm & country areas.
And did you know that there are beehives on top of the Opera?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p20s01-sten.html
I knew about the beehives on top of the Opera, I have seen a report about it on TV some time ago, it's amazing isn't it?
I just came across an interesting program about beehives in NYC. The beekeeper claimed that eating local honey - a tsp a day - from whatever your location is, helps diminish allergic reactions to local pollen. Hadn't heard that one before.
But urban beekeeping is apparently hot news.
Such hot news that the IHT just did a story too!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/01/healthscience/parisbees.php
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