Have you heard about the decline in both honeybees and native pollinators? Both bees and native pollinators assist farmers in increasing production of most of our favorite fruits and vegetables. If we don’t learn to understand the cause of their decline, researchers say our long term food supply may be seriously affected.
More and more gardeners are doing their part to help bees by incorporating flower-rich habitats into their landscapes. In return, bees pollinate your flowers, providing a bountiful harvest of fruits and vegetables.
Here are a few things you can do to help increase the bee population in your own landscape by building a bee garden.
- Rethink your lawn. Replace all or part of it with flowering plants to provide food and habitat for bees and other wildlife.
- Plant native flowers and remove invasive plants.
- Select single flower tops such as daisies and marigolds – they produce more nectar and are easier for bees to access pollen.
- Skip hybridized plants – they don’t produce seeds, thus providing little pollen for bees.
- Build bee houses.
- Provide a bee bath. Like birds, bees need a fresh, clean water source, too.
Let’s all try to help our little pollinating friends and get started on a bee-friendly garden today.
