Gulf winds blow through canopy roads all the way to Thomasville.

Native names written on the land that echo through the red clay hills.

Where the scent of longleaf Florida pine reaches up on past that Georgia line.

Stroll through Tallahassee town or Southern Apalache bound.

Take the Local Routes and journey down the roads we call our home.

Take the Local Routes and journey down the roads we call our home.

Welcome to Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith with WFSU Public Media.

And today we're at the University of Florida IFAS extension office in Tallahassee, right in their demonstration garden.

Now, midwinter is the perfect time to see trees like the ones behind me in bloom.

But it's also the perfect time of year to start thinking about what your spring garden will look like, especially if you want to attract native bees.

We've been talking about native bees a lot over the last few months on this program.

This time of year, they're sleeping underground or in the brush piles that many of you may have started in your yard after seeing one of our previous segments.

So what do you want in your garden to attract native bees in the spring?

Well, WFSU's Rob Diaz de Villegas talked with some of our Garden of A Thousand Bees partners to find out the answer to that question.

>>Mark Tancig: So food for bees, right, is flowers, pollen nectar.

And if we're trying to focus on native bee native plants are what we should focus on, right?

Because those are the plants that the native bees have adapted to.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: So what flowers best attract native bees into your yard?

Some you would expect.

>>Mark Tancig: Texas sage.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: Butterflyweed.

>>Elizabeth Georges: Dune sunflower.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Other bee friendly plants might surprise you.

>>Elizabeth Georges: Blueberries.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: Yaupon Holly.

>>Mark Tancig: Saw palmetto.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: Mature oaks and p >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Today we learn wha plants to include in a North Florida bee g In our previous segment, we talked about overwintering and nesting habitat for bees >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: But then.

Let's bring comes our native species start to wake up, and they're hung >>Mark Tancig: So flowers.

A diversity of flowers: lots of different species, lots of different heights, right, low things, medium tall.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: In other words, not just wildflowers.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: The basis of any good habitat is the trees first, and the Panhandle, the oaks, mature oaks and pines are critical and irreplaceable.

>>Elizabeth Georges: I would say that you want to plant a diversity of native wildflowers and native trees and shrubs, something like blueberries.

Here we're in the blueberry patch, so we'll highlight blueberries.

They bloom in February, but a lot of nativ trees are early bloomers.

February March.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: And then after th you have some smaller trees, you might have red buds or dogwoods or fringe tree.

And then you have some Woody shrubby plants, and those are also critical as well.

Native blueberries- grea pollinator plants.

Our native hollies, which some are trees and some are shrubs.

So here we have one of our native hollies.

This is Ilex vomitoria, Yaupon holly.

And mentioned, The Hollies are really importan early emerging native bees that come out in spring.

>>Mark Tancig: Palm is our native tree.

It's- usually when it blooms,m it is loaded with bees, b also have saw palmetto, which is a smaller And then we have this guy here.

This is a little bluestem palmetto or Sabal minor.

You want to go with flowers that are kind of clusters, kind of squat, maybe flat, like have a little platform for the bees to land on.

>>Elizabeth Georges: You want to stick with native plants that have diversity of shapes, sizes, colors, bloom >>Mark Tancig: Here's another example of a low maintenanc plant that just attracts a lot of differen pollinators, including bees.

This is our Texas Sage, Texas Salvia.

Salvia coccinia, Red Sage.

It is a little weedy, so just know that when you plan it, the seeds are going to sit and you're going to find sage growing out of the cracks of the sidewalk.

But it can be easily controlled.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: So here we have o our 21 native milkweed species.

This is As tuberosa VAR Rolfsii.

And this is larval f for monarch butterflies and queen butterfl as well.

But a lot of different insects us species, in particular for its nectar and >>Elizabeth Georges: Bees really go after those composite flowers, which are basically one flower say example would be native sunflower, and there are a bunch of little tubes within that actual flower whe contains the pollen, the stigma and the ne >>Elizabeth Georges: So those are highly attractive to bumblebees and other little native bees wasps.

And examples of those w anything in the Asteraciea family like Bri Liatris... Silphium definitely is a wonderful addition.

This is dune sunflower.

It is another one of our native sunflowers that is another composite flower with many different flowers within the flower.

>>Mark Tancig: Really easy to grow, doesn't need much water, doesn't really need much fertilization at all.

Just a good kind of rich soil.

>>Lilly Anderson-Messec: This is actually right here a sunflower in full bloom.

This is Helianthus radulla..

It's rayless sunflower.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: For much of the year.

All you see of this plant is leaves and then it blooms in the fall.

Many plants only bloom for a few weeks at specific times of year, so you want to include plants for every season >>Elizabeth Georges: In the fall, there's many different wildflowers that are so cru to so many different pollinators.

Somethin like Monarda.

If you want to see a plethor of insects that you never see on any other Monarda is the one that attracts all kinds really different wasps and even some tiny solitary bees as well, sweat bees... along Brickellia and asters.

They have a pretty blooming window just a few weeks in the fa along with your Liatris and goldenrod as w >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Finally, a plant not everyone loves.

>>Mark Tancig: If you have a spot in your yard that you let go wild, you are going to get Spanish needles or Bi alba, this plant right here.

White flowere It's very weedy.

It's annoying because it stuck to your clothes.

But this thing is g >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Those were just a few of the many recommendations shared by our plant f For the full list and more content on poll gardening.

Visit the WFSU Ecology Blog.

For WFSU, I'm Rob Diaz de Villegas Many of the plants shared by our partners are in the seed packet.

You can pick up your own seed pack at WFSU's bee in my gar Visit WFSU.org/beegarden for more info.

Last fall, Rob did take a break from his bee garden for a few days to get out on the water.

So right now, we're going to head to the Apalachicola River for five days of camping, kayaking and exploring.

>>Bob Ackerman: This is going to be the lo paddled in five days, which is 107 miles, and now they're saying it might be a littl more because of some of the detours we too up different creeks and sloughs.

So I'm going to be tired in a couple more days of this.00;00;16;07 - 00;00;19;13 Bob Ackerman >>Whitney Sanford: Yeah, I've heard so muc I've been wanting to do it for a while and it's been great.

I I'll do it again.

>>Martha Haynes: Every day is different an the water.

I really like to camp.

I just like eating outside.

>>Janice Hindson:I have not been on the Ap before.

It's beautiful.

It is just amazing Being out here one day is better than the next.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: RiverTrek is a fun Riverkeeper.

The paddlers are the fundraisers.

Now the campaign is over and they're kayaking and camping down the entire Apalachicola River I'm tagging along for the first time in ni years to bring the adventure to you.

>>Doug Alderson: So how's everybody doing after months, we are ready to go.

I see a cloud that's I wish the day was a little better.

Two things- this was the most experienced group as far as sea kayaking or kayak camp so I didn't really have any worries safety wise.

We have people on this trip that are safet instructors for kayaking, so they teach ot people to be teachers.

But also, this grou has been by far the most aggressive fundra and we've raised more than $77,000.

Our go was $65,000.

So that is pretty incredible.

Yeah.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: After I-10, the ri >>Lee Rigby: The remoteness and the wildne wildlife, we've seen eagles like I say, an it's just amazing.

>>Janice Hindson: I didn't know about the That's been pretty amazing.

Actually.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Tonight, this is h >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: What's the biggest day trip, camping every night?

>>Mary Allgire: Overcoming my apprehension or not I was going to be able to to do it.

Because I noticed when I started trying to get ready for it that after about an hour or so on the boat, you know, I was ready to get out and stretch.

And, you know, I used to be able to stay in a boat longer than that without feeling that way.

And Doug assured me that we stop frequently to get out.

And there's actually more sandbars than I thought ther would be.

>>Janice Hindson: So it's a wide river, an beautiful sandy areas where people can cam you can stop and relax and chit chat, have dinner.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: This is the Apalac region of the river.

>>Doug Alderson: So this is the largest ou about 100 feet over 100 feet above the wat at this water level.

And there's different geological layers, a four different ones here.

>>Cameron Barton: Alum Bluff is a really s There's nowhere else like it.

It's about 1 feet tall.

And when we paddle by it on day two, it was in its full glory.

We got to paddle right up close to it and seeing all the different geological layers seeing the fossils in there, it just- it m you realize that we're a tiny little blip and this beautiful place has been around f a really long time.

It's just powerful to paddle by it and to see that it's continuously changing and it will for forever.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: There are a handfu down Alum Bluff.

Here we see water that is filtered down through the Sand Hill, high above water that is now slowly starting to carve out a steephead ravine.

>>Doug Alderson: You can poke your way jus just look to the right to see the big knee >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Just past Alum Blu and we explore a cypress/ tupelo swamp.

>>Kim Miller: We went down the creek and i stunning.

The cypress trees were just incredible.

An the cypress knees, and it was just a reall magical place.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Imagine so much mo this at one point, with big trees this siz >>Cameron Barton: This guy over here this phenomenal.

>>Martha Haynes: Like every ten or 15 mile The landscape changes and the lighting.

An as the day goes on, it really is an incred way to see this river.

>>Lee Rigby: I just enjoyed a lot of times of it and where we get so far away from an that it's just you just don't hear anythin except the sound of your paddle.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: We spend the after campsite, and it's Estiffanulga Bluff.

We were lucky, though, and it didn't rain unt after our tents were set up.

>>Whitney Sanford: I loved watching when t in last night, that was fun, handling the snakes and seeing those- you know hearing about them.

>>Doug Alderson: I always enjoy the reptil Hill.

That's always a highlight.

>>Wayne Douchkoff: I recognize my fears an with any fears.

So I took up skydiving a f years ago because I was afraid of heights.

So it seemed only logical if there was an opportunity to handle snakes that I should try handling a snake.

It's only the third time in my life I've touched the snake, an I couldn't give it back because the snake handler was on to another snake.

So the snake and I became friends.

>>Joe Webb: You know, I enjoy just launchi getting on the on the river and taking it in the nature of the trees, the water, the sunrise, just enjoy the experience of bein out here where you don't see a lot except for birds and a few fish now and then and and hopefully a lot of clean water.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: There are no major today.

I find my rhythm and appreciate my surroundings, and I spend time exploring s This is a good time to get to know some of the river trekkers.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Collecting for you >>Bob Ackerman: Yeah.

Isn't that nice?

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: It is nice.

>>Bob Ackerman: I - I plan to- I'll hang i on there.

>>Cameron Barton: I have the Marauder helm teach at Maclay school and our mascot is t Marauder.

And my school is incredibly supportive to help me come along on RiverTrek and my stu are really engaged and they learn deeply w RiverTrek is all about and why we do this.

>>Ray Jones: I have a wooden kayak that I at the Maritime Museum back in 2014, and t was the first time I'd ever been to Apalachicola, and I became aw of the Riverkeeper at that time because I had done some volunteer work for the Frenc Broad Riverkeeper, which is near where I l on the French Broad River in Asheville, No Carolina.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Ray makes wooden b one for each of the Rivertrekkers.

>>Ray Jones: It has a compass rose on the it has Apalachicola RiverTrek 2021 and the RiverTrekkers names listed, and I used som Cuban mahogany that was salvaged out of th Fort Myers area in southwestern Florida.

I thought it would be appropriate to use o salvaged wood.

>>Doug Alderson: So I'm just making a tiny mostly dry willow sticks, but we have the ones that are still in the trees of the dr Something like this big is good.

Wait till it catches a little bit.

That's your grass burning already, look at that.

That's a sweet little fire.

>>Cameron Barton: Good Job!

>>Doug Alderson: Good job team.

>>Cameron Barton: Last night at our sandba campfire, just just fun stories.

Doug's an amazing storyteller.

Just belly laughing all around.

But we see his boat a the River - it's dark 30 and they're shini their light all over the place.

And we end up being able to go out to them and they s you know, come on over to our boat, and th had the largest catfish in their boat.

But these are the locals that live right a and their families home.

>>Flint Norris: Flathead catfish- invasive eating.

Really, really.

>>Doug Alderson: That was maybe 25 pounds >>Flint Norris: These, no, that one's not But he's probably our fifteen, sixteen pou We catch them 20, 25 pounds.

But that's, y that's that's not that's not the biggest o >>Doug Alderson: That's great to meet some that live on the river.

They mentioned tha the river has been providing for them and their families for all their lives.

They grew up on the river.

And so it's fun to see it from their perspective.

They're showing off their catfish.

They had a coup of big channel cats, they had a big blue c and they had a lot of bream.

They were going to big fish fry and they i they're always very generous to invite us over if they wanted to come tonight or Sun night.

>>Wayne Douchkoff: It was two guys have li lives, second or third or fourth generatio on the river.

And they were telling us that they were ri keepers since birth, and they thanked us f participating what Apalachicola Riverkeepe >>Kim Miller: We're with the Apalachicola And we're- we put in at the Jim Woodruff D 00;12;01;22 - 00;12;10;18 Kim Miller And we've been paddling all the way to Apa from the Jim Woodruff Dam.

A hundred and- 106 miles.

>>Cameron Barton: But to see them still, y of people that care for the river, there b a part of it, they're pulling out the inva species.

I think we need to remember that there are all walks of life that care about this pla >>Kim Miller: All the people that we've se of days out here on the river- bass fisher people just camping on the river, and they all appreciate, they all enjoy it.

>>James Kimbrel: I actually grew up on thi from Blountstown.

So I uh, my uncle and I used to fish the river every summer, two o three times a week for catfish.

And actual he would take them and sell them after the were cleaned, and that was just an additio source of income.

This river, I would say, is more natural than a lot of the rivers I've paddled.

I've paddle, pret much the entire state.

A lot of clear wate rivers and dark water rivers.

Everything f the Blackwater River in West Florida to th Everglades.

Of course, this river supports a huge popu of fish, as we've seen on this trip.

There are a lot of fishermen out.

>>Doug Alderson: Sand Mountain, of course, >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: It's fun to climb is river dredge dumped here by the Army Co of Engineers.

>>Whitney Sanford: This would be kind of e >>Rob Diaz de Villegas: I follow Whitney f we normally take on RiverTrek.

All right!

This is how I climb Sand Mountain in the past.

Our next stop is a slough just like the on that was covered up by Sand Mountain.

>>Lee Rigby: We got some talks about the r sloughs.

I love tupelo honey and I know th we've lost a lot of Tupelo trees because t sloughs don't don't allow enough water in there.

So we're we were looking at some of the re projects and it's just it's just great.

>>Dodie Alber: Really.

I'm doing it becaus my understanding of just how connected eve is.

Like, I didn't think how the Tupelo tr depended on, you know, floods at certain t of year and then low water at other times of year to to thrive.

>>Ken Jones: This slough as it turns out, bad deposit right here at the at the head.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Ken Jones is helpi remove sand that has washed into the sloug from Army Corps of Engineers dredging proj >>Ken Jones: The slough restoration is loo it takes to remove all these sediments fro these major sloughs so that when flows are at the low period, they can go down in thr the sluicing continue to hydrate the tupel cypress floodplain system.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: It's about connect After leaving this slough, we reflect on t connectedness of all water.

>>Wayne Douchkoff: So if you would take on put it into the water and just wiggle your fingers about and just feel the water you' touching, water that's ancient.

The amount of water on Earth is constant.

It's never changed over millions of years.

So you're touching water that is millions of years old.

So if you ever take the time to pause and touch the water, just think o this moment and touching all of the water of the world all at once.

The old water, the new water.

It's all the same.

>>Doug Alderson: I love tonight with the b of like the feast near the end of the trip with the food and the and the camaraderie here.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: Owl Creek is in th Forest.

Tonight, we sleep beneath the pine The last day is the longest and there are few places to stop.

On this one sand spoil, Bob finds a little Florida soft shell turtle.

Oh my gosh, the job I spot.

Oh, cool.

You may want to hold it.

Anybody afraid of tur >>Lee Rigby: Last time we got to Apalachic like, man, I just want to keep going to St George, so I don't know if I'll feel that way this trip, but I wouldn't be surprised >>Martha Haynes: The best thing is the peo group of people and everybody's, you know, enthusiastic and into it, even though we h lots of different backgrounds.

>>Bob Ackerman: We're getting along really good group of people.

We're all nature lovers, kayakers, campers It's been a great group.

>>Whitney Sanford: It's been really fun to and get to know this group.

That's probabl been one of the biggest highlights.

>>Kim Miller: All the people that are asso river keepers, they all come from differen walks of life professionally.

But there's one tie that binds us all here one common denominator, and it's the waters.

>>Bob Ackerman: It's just a really nice ti time of my life.

>>Rob Diaz de Villegas: For WFSU, this is RiverTrek, we kayak by steephead ravines, longleaf forests, tupelo swamps, and we le about the slough restoration project.

You can take a deeper dove into all of those stori as well as stories on Apalachicola Bay, oy and the barrier islands surrounding Apalac Bay on the WFSU Ecology Blog.

That's it for this episode of Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith in the Demonstration Garden of the University of Florida/ IFAS extension office in Tallahassee.

You can see these stories and more on our website.

wfsu.org/localroutes and while you're online.

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For everyone at WFMU Public Media, thanks for watching.

Have a great week, everyone.

Magnolia Trees greet the southern breeze.

in the land where rivers wind.

Seeds that spring up from the past leave us treasures yet to find.

Where are children play along the land our Fathers built with honest hands.

Take a moment now, and look around the paradise we have found.

Take the local routes and journey down the roads we call our home.