Unleashing the Rocky Mountain bee plant crusade

Fish Springs photographer Martha Brodkey is on a crusade to encourage Valley residents to cultivate Rocky Mountain bee plant.

"I've never seen one in Nevada until four or five years ago by the side of the road," she said. "I watched it until I saw the seed pods were maturing."

Martha said the plants are attractive to bees and butterflies.

"Everywhere you look there are three or four bees on each bloom," she said. "They are just amazing. When you walk among them you can't put your finger down without touching a bee."

The plant is native to the West. According to Wikipedia, its scientific description was based on specimens collected by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It ranges from Canada down to New Mexico and into Southern California.

"The seed houses say it grows 4-5 feet high, but mine are almost 6 feet high," Martha said.

According to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Web site, when the leaves mature, they can be boiled and eaten as greens. Seeds can be made into flour. A poultice is made of the crushed leaves and used to reduce swelling and boiled with a rusty iron, it can be made into a drink to treat anemia. It can be used as a paint or a dye.

Martha said that she is on a crusade to get more people to plant them.

"They are kind of iffy," she said. "My friend has been planting them for three years from my seeds and hasn't had any luck."

Martha said it helps if they are frozen over the winter. The plants don't transplant very well, so seed is the best way to plant them.

"I hear they grow like weeds in the Midwest," she said. "They grow in really bad soil. It's so fun to watch them. I take a picture almost every day, they grow so fast."

The plants take full sun, and bloom from June through September.

Martha is a 30-year Carson Valley resident. She is a regular contributor to The Record-Courier. She is married to Joel Brodkey, a retired police officer and teacher, who presently works the security desk at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Building in Minden.

Virginia Paul said someone is making off with U.S. flags in her Chichester Estates neighborhood.

The longtime Valley resident said she and her neighbors are missing more than a half-dozen flags.

The thief broke her aluminum flag pole getting hers down. She said a neighbor, who is a retired Marine, is waiting for whoever's responsible to return.

The thefts have been reported to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Anyone who happens to notice someone in possession of an unusually large collection of flags may call the Secret Witness hotline at 782-7463.

Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215