How To Attract Bees To Your Garden

Did you know that there are more than 250,000 species of plants that require pollination? Without bees, we’d have little to eat and fewer flowers to enjoy.

Many food crops we’ve come to rely on are pollinated by wind – sweet corn for example. Corn’s pollen is light and travels by air easily to adjoining corn stalks. But many crops and flowers produce pollen that is heavy and sticky and not easily blown by wind. These plants require bees, birds, butterflies, moths, bats, or some other animal or insect to move among the flowers and circulate the pollen.

Bees are important for pollinating plants

Sufficient pollination is essential for plant reproduction. Fortunately, bees are an awesome force for pollination. As they fly in and out of flowers, pollen sticks to their bodies and is deposited on neighboring flowers.

Among the food crops that benefit from bee pollination are:

• Alfalfa
• Buckwheat
• Clover
• Vetch
• Apple
• Apricot
• Avocado
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Citrus fruits
• Peach
• Pear
• Almonds
• Cashews
• Coffee
• Soybeans
• Sunflowers
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Brussel Sprouts
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Peppers
• Onions
• Parsley
• Squash
• Pumpkin
• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Cantaloupe
• Eggplant
• and hundreds of others.

In short, without bees and other pollinators, we wouldn’t enjoy these wonderful foods.

Why are bees attracted to certain flowers and not others?

For flower gardeners, your local bee population and other pollinators are responsible for the brightly colored blooms on your flowers every year. Bees can’t see the color red, by the way: they see blue, yellow, and ultraviolet. That’s why bee-pollinated flowers are mostly yellow (sometimes blue) with ultraviolet nectar guides (sort of a landing pattern).

Generally speaking, bees are more attracted to native plants for your area, because they evolved side-by-side with them. Where generous numbers of native plants occur, bees will be more likely to build nests. Bees generally don’t venture farther than 200 yards from their colony to gather nectar and this is why it’s so important that you encourage bees to nest near your home garden.

What is Colony Collapse Disorder?

You’ve no doubt heard about Colony Collapse Disorder, which has resulted in millions, perhaps billions of bees disappearing from their habitats. CCD occurs when a majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave the queen behind. The reason for this is unsettled and it’s been argued that a disease caused by mites or certain pesticides are at fault. Read more about colony collapse disorder on the EPA website.

Build bees a home

Bees are roughly divided into those that build their nests in the earth and those that build them above ground, usually in some kind of wood. Inexpensive artificial nests can be constructed out of paper or plastic straws 3/8″ in diameter and then glued into a milk carton, or you can drill 3/8″ holes 4″-6″ deep into a block of untreated wood. These nests should then be attached to something like the side of your shed, a tree trunk, or a pole about 3 feet off the ground and should be protected from rain and wind. Learn how to build a DIY “bee condo” from the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Not every bee stings

By the way, most people’s fear of bees is unwarranted. Some do indeed sting, but usually only in self-defense when you take a swat at them. Bees are our friends, and necessary for beautiful flowers and crop production, so don’t kill them – invite bees into your organic garden!