If you want to do your bit to save the bees from extinction, you can donate to specific charities that are working to conserve these important pollinators. You could also buy a Queen Bee necklace from organizations such as Project Honey Bees, which donate money from every sale to bee conservation. You could even make your own garden more attractive to bees. If you really wanted, you could do all three.
When it comes to attracting bees to your garden, you need to make it more ‘bee friendly’. This means growing plants that bees like to visit as well as a few other things that will make your garden a bee haven. Here follows a few tips on how to do this.
Plant Flowers
If you want bees to visit your garden, you need to make it inviting to them. This means more than just randomly planting any old flowers and expecting the bees to come. Bees love flowers such as snap dragon, lavender, California poppies, evening primrose, coneflowers, and sunflowers. These flowers contain both pollen and nectar, which is of course what bees are foraging for.
If you want your garden to be really attractive for bees, you should make a point of planting a variety of flowers that will bloom from spring to late summer. Consider crocus, bluebell, and viburnum in spring, poppy, sweat pea, and campanula in early summer, and for late summer buddleia, lavender, honeysuckle, and foxglove are great choices.
These flowers will not only attract bees, but they will also look and smell lovely in your garden; you might even get a visit from some butterflies, too.
Grow Herbs
As well as flowers, you could consider planting some herbs. It is best to grow your herbs in pots to prevent them from spreading too wide. According to Friends of the Earth, there are a variety of herbs that provide food for bees throughout the year. Additionally, they can be used for cooking, adding the most delicious flavors to your meals. Consider herbs such as mint, chives, fennel, rosemary, and lemon balm for variety.
Provide Shelter
Bees will appreciate places in the garden where they can shelter and find some rest. Bees that are away from their nests during a heavy downpour will need a place to shelter. You can leave a pile of twigs in your garden or turn a planter upside down and drill holes in the bottom. This will allow bees the opportunity to crawl in should they need a place to hide.
Provide a Permanent Residence
Bee hotels are becoming more popular with people who want to help save the bees. A bee hotel can be made by tying together hollow tubes, such as bamboo, with string. You can also buy a ready-made bee hotel with tubes and meshed areas for protection. A bee hotel is great for attracting solitary bees and provides them with a place to lay their eggs.
Do Less Tidying
This might not be a desirable option for many people, but if you want bees to visit your garden, consider tidying it less often as bees do like mess while weeds can become an important food source when there are no other options. If they do not bother you too much, consider leaving weeds such as dandelion and clover to grow, and avoid cutting your lawn too often. Leave some leaves and twigs where they are along with a patch of unplanted earth, and you might find that some bees will use this area to build a nest on the ground.
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