O'Shun's Orchard

03/23/2026

03/17/2026

We have kept bees here for years and we have NEVER seen this before every dagger palm on the property blooming at the same time. 🌾✨

All that rain + this unseasonably warm March = a desert that said YES all at once.

Our bees are absolutely out there working the high desert bloom right now plenty of forage to go around. But the dagger palm has its own special relationship that has nothing to do with honeybees. The yucca moth is its dedicated pollinator, one of the most fascinating partnerships in nature. The moth collects pollen, tucks it into the flower, lays her eggs, and her babies grow up inside the seed pod she helped create. It's a deal that's been running for millions of years.

We're just glad we got to witness it. Nature does not repeat this on demand.

Capture every bloom you can right now the high desert won't look like this again for a long time. 🐝🌿

03/11/2026

Your slope isn't "covered" it's smothered. 🌿
Iceplant, vinca, African daisy, kikuyu grass, San Diego's most popular ground covers are some of native bees' biggest enemies. They seal off bare soil (where 70% of native bees nest!), crowd out native blooms, and quietly erase the food web one hillside at a time.

This month we're working with to rescue two buckwheat shrubs being choked out by iceplant. Those plants feed bees from June through October. Nearly lost to a "low-maintenance" landscaping 😔

Swap invasives for natives that actually work:
🌸 Carmel creeper
🍂 Coyote brush
🌼 Prostrate buckwheat
🌺 Manzanita
⚠️ If you're on a slope — go slow. Remove in small sections, replant within 48 hours, mulch immediately. Erosion is real.
Every square foot of native habitat returned is a win for San Diego's 700+ native bee species. 🐝

03/10/2026

🌿 Is your "easy" ground cover quietly smothering San Diego's native bees?

We've been working on a slope restoration this month that stopped us in our tracks. Buried under a solid carpet of iceplant, we found two native buckwheat shrubs (Eriogonum fasciculatum) barely hanging on, nearly gone. Those buckwheats are critical late-summer bee food, blooming June through October when almost nothing else is feeding our 650+ native bee species here in San Diego County.
Iceplant is one of the biggest culprits, but it's not the only one.
African daisy, kikuyu grass, vinca/periwinkle, and Himalayan blackberry are all common in our neighborhoods and all do the same thing, they crowd out native plants and seal off the bare soil that ground-nesting bees absolutely need to survive. (Did you know about 70% of our native bees nest in the ground? Solid ground cover = no housing.)
Some beautiful replacements to consider:
🌸 Carmel creeper (Ceanothus maritimus) — great for slopes + incredible bee magnet
🍂 Coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) — fall nectar when little else is blooming
🌼 Prostrate buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) — the June–October workhorse
🌺 Manzanita — blooms in January/February for early mason bees
One big caution though — if you're on a slope, please don't rip everything out at once! Bare hillsides erode fast, especially here. We work in small sections (max 200 sq ft at a time), plant within 48 hours, and mulch immediately. Slow is safe.
Has anyone else been dealing with iceplant takeover? Drop a photo or tag a neighbor — we'd love to hear what you're working with! 🐝👇

12/25/2025

Happy Holidays from SAVAGE BEE-CHES! 🍯🎄✨

We just want to say THANK YOU for all the love and support this year. You helped us keep doing what we love—making unique, premium bee-based goodies and sharing them with our community.

We’re excited for a better, brighter New Year, filled with joy, growth, and sweet moments. And as always, we’ll keep supporting the community and the environment because when we care for the world around us, we help create a sweeter future for everyone. 🐝🌿
Let’s head into the New Year with extra kindness and care for our neighbors—both human and creature. 💛

📸 Photo by our friends & Old Town San Diego neighbors at Lost Cities Beads — apple slice dipped in our Orange Honey (yum!).
O'Shun's Orchard

11/15/2025

Urban honeybee hives are trending in hospitality…but at what cost?
Hotels, resorts, corporate campuses, and commercial developments are installing honeybee hives as a “sustainability feature.”

The intention is great.
The impact is not.

Honeybees aren’t native to North America, and in landscapes with limited forage, they can outcompete native bees, the pollinators that actually keep ecosystems healthy and resilient.

Native bees forage within a few hundred feet.
Honeybees travel up to 5 miles and gather surplus.
In cities, that imbalance becomes ecological pressure.

Let’s move from trends to true environmental stewardship. 🌿
Read more on our blog page.

10/12/2024

Took alot of work to grow these and still not ready.