Blog #13B Attracting Wildlife: Bees
Blog Description: How to attract bees to your garden, and why you would want to.
The phrase “busy bee” doesn’t exist for nothing! Today we discover how to attract one of the world’s most important, and fascinating, pollinators into our gardens. But first, let’s start with a refresher on what a pollinator is, exactly.
A pollinator is any bird, insect, or small mammal that carries pollen from the stamen (female part) to the stigma (male part) of a flower, or in other words from one part of a flower to another. This process, called fertilization, ensures the reproduction of the plants, which in turn produce the fruits, vegetables, berries, seeds, and nuts that humans and other animals rely on for sustenance.
To give some perspective, pollinators are responsible for fertilizing 75% of all flowering plants on Earth. This translates to 1,200 food crops and 180,000 plants overall. Woah! These are pretty important little creatures, small but mighty for sure!
A garden rich in pollinators is a garden providing clean air and oxygen to your community, a garden repairing and returning soil integrity to the Earth, and a garden supporting human and wildlife nutrition alike.
For tips on attracting pollinators, including the beloved bees, you can refer back to the first blog post in our mini series on attracting wildlife, The How-to Guide. But here is a quick refresh, in case you’re in a hurry to get out in the garden!
How to Attract Bees to Your Garden
- Provide a water source, they get thirsty!
- Allow for an extended blooming period by incorporating plants with staggered blooming windows, thus securing food throughout the year for your fuzzy black and yellow friends.
- Avoid pesticides, bees are highly sensitive to chemicals.
- Provide nesting sites; create bee friendly habitats by leaving areas of bare soil, providing bundles of hollow stems, or setting up bee houses specifically designed for nesting.
Plants to Attract Bees
- Lavender (Lavandula)
- Sunflower (Helianthus)
- Bee Balm (Monarda)
- Salvia (Salvia)
- Catmint (Nepeta)
- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)
- Rosemary (Rosmarinus)
- Borage (Borago officinalis)
- Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)
- Russian Sage (Perovskia)
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Most flowers that are fairly flat are good for bees to drink nectar from. Less useful are ones with a trumpet shape because they have a deep throat the bees’ “straws” cannot reach into.
Go out and look at gardens and nurseries nearby and observe which plants you like are being visited by bees, and see if you can find space for these on your own property.
Attract Bees for a Healthier Planet
Okay, so you may be having some second thoughts on attracting bees at this point. Like, “Yikes! My garden is on a small suburban plot, why the heck would I want to attract an insect that stings into my happy place?!”
Well, let’s set the record straight. Not all species of bees sting. And of the species that do, they generally have to be provoked. Next time you see bees doing their work, leave them be, give them space and don’t swat at them.
Unless you have a life-threatening bee allergy, attracting bees to your garden does far more good than harm.
Bees pollinate nearly one third of the produce we directly consume or feed to livestock. Think about that for a minute. That is a lot of food.
Now consider this, the worldwide bee population declined by close to 60% between 1947 and 2008. Do you see where this is headed? It’s not good.
The good news is, we can change this trend by inviting more bees into our lives! Bees and humans have a very symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship, so let’s all do our part in the garden to create a hospitable environment for these busy creatures!
This is part 2 of our mini series on attracting wildlife. Part 3 will cover butterflies and moths, more very important pollinators and friends in the garden landscape. Please share your experiences attracting bees to your garden. And of course, post any questions you may have, we love fielding those too!
Until next time,
Happy Gardening!
Mary