Creating a bee-friendly garden
Home » Blog » Janet Luke » Creating a bee-friendly gardenAround the world bees are in decline due to disease and other factors. By maintaining a bee-friendly garden you can play a small, but important role in helping to restore honeybee populations.
Photo by Red Barnes via Flickr
Organic gardens are naturally abuzz with bees. Honey bees are important for the pollination of all our fruits and berries and many of our vegetables crops. They don’t need us, but we certainly need them. Worldwide their numbers are on the decline due to disease and other factors. By maintaining a bee-friendly garden, you can play a small but important role in helping to restore honey bee populations while ensuring great pollination in your garden.
Creating a beeutiful garden!
Thanks to beekeepers, honeybees aren’t in
danger of disappearing completely, even with the added problems of the Varroa
mite. Unfortunately, because of Varroa, wild populations of honey bees are all but gone. Native bumble 
bees require our help
also. You can help by promoting an environment that encourages bees to
visit your garden. Here’s what you can do:
Provide water: Like all living things, bees require
a constant supply of water. Provide a shallow pond in your garden where
bees can land on the margins to collect water. Place rocks or grow water lilies
in deeper water to provide bees with a safe drinking platform. Wet
sand in a large shallow bowl is another way.
By providing a water source in your garden you avoid bees visiting your
neighbours pool for drinks!
Pollen and nectar: Ornamental plants can
direct bees to your garden, but not just any flower will do. If you aim to
attract honeybees, you’ll need bee-friendly flowers that produce ample amounts of pollen and
nectar.
Amusingly, honeybees tend to fly in straight lines, so you can usually shake a pursuing bee by weaving or running around a tree. Just hope your neighbours aren’t watching.
Interestingly, bees can
clearly perceive only four colors: yellow, blue-green, blue, and
ultraviolet. Yellow, the color of most pollen, is a bee favorite.
Regardless of the colour, if a blossom doesn’t provide enough pollen
or nectar, bees will totally ignore it. Interestingly, most modern
ornamentals, such as hybrid roses, no longer produce enough pollen and
nectar. For the best bee lures plant old-fashioned or heirloom varieties.
Protecting bees: The most serious danger
to foraging honeybees is the indiscriminate use of pesticides and other
chemicals in the garden. This is just another reason to be organic and
spray free. When it comes to controlling garden pests simple home
remedies can save the bees. For example, you can eliminate a variety of
destructive insects, including aphids, by spraying infested plants with a fast
jet of water from a hose. One organic spray, Pyrethrum, is very toxic to bees,
if you must use is make sure it is late in the evening when the bees are back
in the hive.
Don't mow: Let a small patch of lawn grow long. Bees love clover and dandelions.
Your safety: Rest assured that foraging honeybees rarely
sting while away from the hive. If threatened, they usually fly away. Even
so, if you are buzzed by a curious bee, it’s a bad idea to swat at her. Simply
walk away. Amusingly, honeybees tend to fly in straight lines, so you can usually shake a pursuing bee by weaving
or running around a tree. Just hope your neighbours aren’t watching. Avoid
wearing perfumes when you’re in the garden, bees will be attracted to
you. Bees are attracted to blue clothing so avoid wearing blue in garden.
Best blooms for bees: Because foraging honeybees (they are all girls) put
in 12-hour shifts, they tend to visit only one type of flower at a time.
So, they might find a solid mass of sunflowers more alluring than a bed
filled with mixed flowers. For the best results, make sure their favorite
pollen and nectar producing blooms are continuously available in your
garden throughout the year. Below is a smorgasbord of best bets.
Trees: Alders (Alnus spp.) Apples and
crabapples (Malus spp.) Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) Lime
(Tilia spp.) Orange (Citrus sinensis) Tupelos (Nyssa
spp.) Cherries, peaches, plums (Prunus spp.) Hazelnuts (Corylus spp.) Maples (Acer
spp.) Oaks (Quercus spp.) Persimmons (Diospyros
spp.) Sycamores (Platanus spp.) Willows (Salix spp.)
Shrubs: Blackberries (Rubus spp.)
Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) Flowering quinces (Chaenomeles spp.) Abelias (Abelia
spp.) Butterfly bushes (Buddleia
spp.) Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) Elderberries (Sambucus
spp.) Sumacs (Rhus spp.) Wild or old fashioned roses (Rosa
spp.)
Perennials/annuals: Alyssum (Lobularia
maritima) Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) Bee balm (Monarda didyma) Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia
spp.) Basil, Borage (Borago officinalis) Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberose) Catmints (Nepeta spp.)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) Cosmos (Cosmos spp.) Globe thistles (Echinops spp.) Lambs’ ears (Stachys
byzantina) Lavendars (Lavendula spp.) Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) Oreganos (Origanum spp.)
Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) Sages and salvias (Salvia
spp.) Summer phlox (Phlox paniculata) Thymes (Thymus
spp.) Sedum (Sedum spectabile) Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) Verbenas (Verbena
spp.)
Tue January 18, 2011 @ 01:48 AM
