Up With Bees

It’s pretty incredible to see the culture shift happening around pollinators across our state!

Just today, we started in Jenks celebrating with our friends at the Oklahoma Aquarium as they officially opened their new pollinator garden exhibit! Then we headed up to Tulsa to collaborate with Downtown Tulsa Partnership on projects to transform some entrances to downtown into native pollinator habitat!

A few years ago, conversations about pollinators were happening in small circles. Today, nonprofits, schools, businesses, community groups, and entire cities across Oklahoma are finding ways to create habitat and make room for the species that help keep our ecosystems thriving.

Broken Arrow. Sand Springs. Coweta. Jenks. Tulsa.
And we’re just getting started!

Take a look at where these spaces started. The Aquarium, 16th and Victor, 13th and Detroit, and 1st and Lansing! Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what a patch of dirt, weeds, or an overlooked corner can become until someone decides to invest in it. We’ll post the after images later this week!

What excites me most isn’t any single project. It’s watching more people step up and ask how they can help.
That’s how real change happens.

Now the question we have,,.. is where should we grow next?

🐝🌼🥰🦋💐🌻

This is what we do for fun. 😂
Misty rain. Muddy boots. Native plants.

The pollinators will thank us later. 🐝🌱🌺
See you Tuesday for your pollinator ribbon cutting!

BA bee buzzin and bloomin! 🥰🤪🐝🌺🦋

Every project is different! That’s why we can use different wildflower seed mixes with varying bloom heights to align with your aesthetic goals, visibility needs, or local municipal code requirements!

Whether you’re planting along a highway, at a business, in a neighborhood, or on a large property, we can help you find the right mix for your goals. 🐝🌻

The Oklahoma Aquarium’s new pollinator garden officially opens with a ribbon cutting on June 16 at 1:00 PM!

Up With Bees is honored to have a (very)small part of this project. We helped organize volunteers to clear and prepare the former traffic-calming parking lot islands that are now thriving pollinator plots, and we’ll even have a small apiary on site. The incredible garden you see today, however, is the result of the Oklahoma Aquarium staff and their dedicated volunteers!

You can see the love they have for their workplace and their mission in every bloom.

Thank you, Oklahoma Aquarium, for the entertainment, education, conservation, and maximum effort you bring to our community every single day! Your commitment to creating spaces that inspire curiosity while supporting pollinators and wildlife is truly something special.

You inspire us, Oklahoma Aquarium! 🐝🌻🦋

🍯 We’ve got some REALLY sweet news coming soon… and we’re too excited to keep all the good vibes to ourselves! 🐝💛

So let’s do a giveaway! 👇

Comment below and tag a friend. If your name is selected, BOTH you and your friend will each win a GIANT 4 pound honey bear! 😱🍯

That’s right…
🐻 4 pounds each
🍯 Raw, pure, unfiltered honey
💛 8 pounds of honey total being given away! We will also cover the shipping even if you’re not in Oklahoma!

These jumbo bears are packed with delicious local goodness and we cannot wait for you to get your hands on them.

We’ll randomly select the winners and announce them in a separate post soon. Ready… go tag your honey-loving friends! 🐝

🐝✨ Swarm season notice! ✨🐝

If you see a big buzzing ball of bees hanging out on a tree, fence, or your porch… don’t panic 😄

That’s a swarm, and it’s actually how bees move to a new home 🏡💛

Here’s the cool part:
👉 They’re usually not aggressive
👉 They’re just resting and protecting their queen
👉 And they’ll often move along within a day or two

🚫 PLEASE don’t spray them
Spraying harms pollinators we depend on for our food 🌸🍓🥑 and it’s often unnecessary

✅ Instead:
• Give them space 👀
• Keep kids and pets back 🐕
• Call a local beekeeper or swarm removal group 📞🐝

These little workers are doing big things for our world 🌎💛 Let’s take care of them!

🐝✨

We took a page from our friends at the Oklahoma Aquarium today and had an absolute blast doing it! Removing barriers and making education so fun it doesn’t even feel like learning! 🐝

We teamed up with our Tulsa County Library and we wiggled, we waggled, stretched, and danced like bees do. Then we set up primary-colored flower paint stations to show how pollination works and helped kids mix their own colors to create their artwork!

Such a great time with some incredible young minds. We can’t wait to be back!

🐝🌼 Big Buzz at the Oklahoma Aquarium! 🦋

We are having an absolute blast partnering with the Oklahoma Aquarium, and our next project is something special… a formal Monarch Waystation! 🌿

Monarchs travel thousands of miles during their migration, and these waystations give them the food and habitat they need to survive the journey. You can learn more about the program here:
https://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/

The Aquarium campus is a perfect example of what Up With Bees loves to do. We helped transform their traffic-calming parking lot barriers into thriving pollinator habitats. 🌸🐝

Even better? Those old monoculture grass areas used to require mowing and maintenance. By converting them into pollinator plantings, the Aquarium is now saving money, reducing maintenance, and creating habitat for birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators!

🌿 Less mowing - more savings!
🐝 More habitat - more pollinators!
🦋 More beauty - better experience!

Everybody wins! 🥳

The Oklahoma Aquarium recently presented Up With Bees with a custom art piece created by Vintage Window Design to thank the organization for its hard work and collaboration on OKAQ’s upcoming pollinator garden. Executive Director Kenny Alexopoulos, Director of Development and Research Dr. Ann Money, and Director of Administrative Services Janis Davis presented the piece to Up With Bees co-founder Adam Abel in recognition of his efforts to improve pollinator habitats across Oklahoma.