Our Honeybees
The Clinton Community Garden has a long history of beekeeping that predates the Giuliani-era ban on the practice in New York City. Our Hell’s Kitchen Honey is savored in the neighborhood and is usually available for sale in late October. All proceeds go directly back into the garden to fund both gardening and beekeeping supplies. Check here and signs posted at the garden for more information about honey sales.
Sid Glaser tended bees at the garden for many years and put the garden and the bees in the spotlight when he appeared on a segment of Animal Planet, demonstrating a “bee beard.” Sid retired about three years ago, turning care of the colony over to a apprentices, who began to apply a more natural approach to beekeeping as a means of fortifying the bees against Colony Collapse Disorder.
Visitors interested in our bees can spot them flying back and forth between such bee favorites as lavender, butterfly bush, thyme, borage, bee balm, clematis, echinacea, and black-eyed Susan, the bird baths, and their home in the Native American bed on the garden’s west side. Their elegant “bee house” is made of cypress, which is naturally rot resistant and is constructed to maximize air flow, important both in preventing the buildup of moisture and Varroa mites, implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder. The bees are a delight to watch, but please observe them from a respectful distance and try to avoid standing in their flight path.
Bees returning to their hive.