Recent years have seen an unusual rise in the number of bees about in the cold winter months, and scientists are now beginning to find out why. While most bees are hibernating, the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, is out taking advantage of exotic winter-flowering plants in our gardens and parks, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.

The study, published in the journal PLoS One, suggests this unique species raises an extra generation of workers to collect nectar from such plants as strawberry trees and holly-like Mahonia, which flower during the colder months.

"All of the UK's bumblebee species normally die out in the autumn leaving only their new queens to survive the cold in hibernation," explains Dr Thomas Ings from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. "However, this research points to a major new change in the behaviour of the British buff-tailed bumblebee."

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Floral designers Bailey Hale and Armas Koehler are perched on stools in a murky niche created by the rusty shipping containers around them. Four containers are on the floor, another two are set heavily above them; some are battered, others tagged with graffiti by artists known simply as Distraught...

So many wonderful small seed companies, so little space. And don’t forget that in this age of texting, Twittering, and blogs, there still are small companies that don’t offer their wares online.

You can find them many of them using Google, but ordering will require a postage stamp.There are three ways to ensure immortality, the saying goes: Have a child, write a book, or plant a tree.

Those who choose No. 3 — and have the patience of Job — should start with the Schumacher Co., a candy store for Johnny Appleseed wannabes. There are half a thousand tree choices available by the ounce or by the pound. Peruse the catalog carefully, perhaps beginning with the 47 maples, because you’re planting for posterity.

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Gardeners can breathe easy. There will be a major March flower show in Boston after all. The Boston Flower & Garden Show will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston March 24-28. It is a new show, with a new producer, new name, and new location. But it will include many of the people and even some of the props that were part of the former New England Spring Flower Show, a much-loved Boston institution that was suspended in 2009 after 137 years because of the financial meltdown of its producer, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

The Paragon Group, a Needham events marketer best known for its auto shows, will mount the new flower show, which will look awfully familiar. Paragon has hired the old flower show’s longtime manager, Carolyn Weston, and she’s lined up veteran exhibitors from past shows.

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The ferns in your garden will look much better if you remove the old fronds every spring. The old fronds are usually tattered and unattractive by this time, especially after a hard winter. The new fronds (fiddleheads) look fresh and attractive but they won't be noticeable unless you remove the old ones.

Don't let concerns about weakening the plant by doing hard pruning stop you. I've yet to meet a fern that is harmed in any way by removing the old fronds in spring. Get the job done soon. If you wait too long, spring growth will begin and then it's practically impossible to remove the old fronds without cutting off the emerging fiddleheads.

Rose-pruning session It's time to prune your roses, and it's important to do it right so that you don't harm your plants. A great way to learn how to prune them correctly is to attend the Seattle Rose Society pruning demonstration at the Woodland Park Rose Garden. Considered one of the best in the region, the rose garden is at the Woodland Park Zoo at North 50th Street and Fremont Avenue North.

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Daphne Minkin might not grow rows of soybeans and drive a fancy tractor, but she manages a decent haul from her 1/4-acre plot to help feed her family.A backyard gardener for about six years, she's among a growing movement of people looking to produce their own food for their families (Minkin and her husband, Darryl, have five children ranging in age from 3 to 15).

And for the first time this year, Minkin plans to attend the upcoming Tennessee Organics Growers' Association conference, which has been drawing gardeners like herself and food lovers in increasing numbers."I have friends call me or e-mail me pretty regularly who are wanting to start putting in their own gardens now," she said. "There's a much larger awareness of buying locally and doing sustainable agriculture.

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Valentine's day is over now, and the chocolates are eaten and the flowers are faded. But thank heavens for this holiday, which falls at a time of year when many folks are feeling, well, just BLAH! But didn't those roses feel good!

There's nothing quite like flowers indoors in the wintertime. It may, in part, explain the popularity of African violets.

Treated right, a healthy African violet can have flowers anytime, and if there are several plants, you could have flowers almost constantly. Amaryllis are good, reliable flower-producers too.

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Dripping with sweat, I switch off my chainsaw and set it down. It is 28F (-2C), there is six inches of snow at my feet, and the 70ft larch that I have just felled lies in front of me. The task leaves me quite drained and I find myself reflecting on a question that I and my colleagues are often asked: "What do you do in winter, do you work part time?'' When I think about domestic gardens I can understand why people wonder. There is no need to cut grass, collect leaves or tidy borders.

If not an  avid pruner, then shrubs can be ignored, too. But for the professional gardener, it is one of the busiestperiods. After a long spring and summer of maintenance, I find September is usually the most restful month. It gives me time to plan. This winter was late coming, with mild weather into December, and the tender plants still performing.

It left us a very tight schedule in which to cut back and tidy the borders (yes I do it early), lift dahlias, bananas and cannas, plant 6,000 tulips, then mulch before Christmas. We would normally have started this in October, giving us time to move on to winter projects, namely tree surgery.

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Q: I have a question about my winter garden. I live in Berkeley near the Claremont Hotel, and our winter garden has mostly grown beautifully. At the end of last September we planted lettuces, spinach, chard, kale and beets from seed.

All of them are still prolific and tasty, but the beets never produced any beet root even though the leaves look healthy. We also planted broccoli and Brussels sprouts from seedlings I bought at Berkeley Horticulture. The leaves are huge and beautiful (about 13-by-10-inches for the broccoli), but there are no broccoli flowers and no Brussels sprouts to eat.

The soil should be very good. We turned it all over during the summer and added new mulch. Do you know why we are missing some harvests?

A: Congratulations on your winter harvests. In my book "Golden Gate Gardening," I suggested September as a good month to plant lettuce, spinach, chard and kale in your area, but it's often too late for beets, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. I think they didn't have enough time to mature before cold weather slowed their growth.

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If 2010 gardening trends shape up to be anything like those of 2009, we're in for more vegetable gardens replacing front lawns. According to November's Edible Gardening Trends Research Report sponsored by the Garden Writers Association, food gardening will continue to be big, with 37 percent of the households surveyed planning to expand their food garden this year. Many seed companies are paying attention to how this translates to sales of new offerings for 2010.

Food trends such as pickling and home canning, and interest in Spanish and Latin American flavors, global street food and antioxidant-rich produce play a role in what home gardeners are growing. But do food trends follow seed trends or do seed trends follow food trends? It's a "which came first" question that seed pioneer Renee Shepherd of Felton (Santa Cruz County) is quite familiar with.

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