What is The Melissa Garden?

The Melissa Garden is a honeybee sanctuary in Healdsburg, California at the western side of the Russian River Valley. Two acres of gardens planted with honeybee forage are situated in the center of a pristine 40-acre ranch that is lush with native vegetation. The Melissa Garden is a new project that began in the fall of 2007. It is being created to provide honeybees with a place to live natural lives, insulated from known stressors, and nourished in a beautiful setting. The garden is being thoughtfully designed and planted with botanicals that offer year-round nectar and pollen sources honeybees are known to favor. Check out our photo album and watch our garden grow!

We chose the name “Melissa” because Melissa officinalis, or Lemon Balm, is an herbaceous plant that has been considered a favorite bee plant for a very long time. Also, in Greek mythology, Melissa is the name of one of the nymphs that fed Zeus honey as an infant while hiding him from his father, Cronus. When Cronus discovered this, he turned her into a worm. After Zeus came into power, he changed her into a queen bee, not being able to change her from an insect form. Melissa is a Greek word meaning honeybee.

Learning Opportunities

The Melissa Garden will offer tours by invitation; classes on what to plant for honeybees; workshops on conscious, holistic hive management, including information on alternative hives; opportunities to learn about apitherapy, the therapeutic use of products of the hive; and artistic and cultural activities inspired by the honeybees.

We are here to educate on these important topics, venerate the honeybees, and inspire others to plant botanicals for honeybees to the extent that they can. We hope to create honeybee sanctuaries throughout the United States and around the world.

Click here to tell us about your honeybee sanctuary.