What can we do about the bees? First it was habitat loss, then bloodsucking mites and pesticides, now global warming. Exotic and native bees are experiencing serious population declines (see, The Bees Are Going Bye, And No One Knows Why), and we humans, with our penchant for paving, are not helping the situation. But many of us, suburban and urbanites alike, tend to floral landscapes that the friendly pollinators could call home. Can we help bring the bees back?
Although we can’t single-handedly replace native habitats for the approximately 5,000 species of wild bees, we can make our gardens a more hospitable place for them to forage and nest. Scientists have shown that many species of bees can, and do, thrive in community and urban gardens and backyards.
But making your garden bee friendly is not just a good deed for the little critters; it will ensure you get the biggest vegetables, juiciest fruits, and healthiest flowers on your block. Bees are a diverse species that are specially adapted to pollinate a diverse array of flowers and are nature’s best pollinators.
Attracting bees, of course, is not the first thing most people think about when planting a garden. Bees often get a bad rap for their painful sting, but most native bees are solitary nesters who rarely sting unless provoked. Bumblers, sweat bees, and carpenter bees are there to get their pollen and nectar fix, and that is about it. And it is those darn carnivorous wasps that disrupt barbeques by dive-bombing your burger (bees, always in vogue, are vegan).
I asked Alex Harmon-Threatt, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley studying wild bee populations and their role in ecology, how a gardener can attract wild bees.
“By leaving some areas undisturbed, and planting native plants that bloom throughout the season, you can encourage nesting in your garden and provide bees with precious resources to keep them around.”
Glancing in my own backyard, I realized I definitely have the “undisturbed” (read unkempt) areas ground nesting bees need to make homes. Other bees like to nest in dead tree limbs or pieces of wood, so that is a good excuse for leaving a little debris in your yard.
Perhaps the most important component of a bee friendly garden is the type of flowers you have. Native bees, because they have coevolved with native flowers, are most often attracted to these. In my own backyard, the bees have made if clear they prefer the thorny blackberry bush, California poppies, and resilient dandelions. Some of these I consider weeds, but like with most natives, they are well adapted to the climate and soil, so require little maintenance and water and no pesticides. Since bees and other pollinators are particularly sensitive to chemicals, this is another benefit of planting natives.
More important than having exclusively native plants, however, is planting a wide variety of bee friendly flowers. Exotics, like rosemary, English lavender, and basil can also attract bees and can be used to augment the natives in your garden. If you live in California or the West, a great Web site for finding bee friendly flowers has been compiled by researchers at the University of California. For the greater United States, The Xerces Society has a short list of native and exotic plants for bees. A trip to your local native plant society or nursery can also help.
The color of your flowers is important as well, since bees can only see in the ultraviolet color range. They are most attracted to yellow, white, blue and violet blooms. Bees, though known for an angry sting, cannot see red.
Once you have bees in your garden, how can you keep them there? The solution is to find plants that flower successively, or at different times of the year. If your garden is abloom in spring, summer, and fall, the bees will want to hang out.
