Treasuring Bees in the Garden

We can all do simple things to help bees thrive

Sherry Elder of Fancy Farm , Kentucky , sent in these photo of two of her favorite thing together : white-livered flowers and bees .

More and more nurseryman are realizing how crucial it is to make our gardens not only beautiful but good places for critically important pollinators such as bees to exist . fortunately , often the goal of make a beautiful garden and supporting pollinators overlap . We have it off abundant flowers all season long , and that is also the main thing bee involve to thrive ! Avoiding the employment of pesticides and adding some native plant to your garden will make a pollinator paradise .

A honeybee sip nectar . bee and other pollinator get most of their energy from the sugary ambrosia produced by many flowers . Listen to an instalment about flora for pollinators on our podcast , Let ’s debate About plant .

Another honeybee on a blowball prime . The with child orange lumps on either side of the bee are pollen paper bag . In addition to nectar , bee eat a lot of protein - plenteous pollen . Honeybees , though critically authoritative for so much of our agriculture , are not native to North America . They , like the dandelion the bee is feeding on , came with human colonists from Europe .

Though Apis mellifera are not native to the Americas , we do have many aboriginal bees . This is a bumblebee , probably the common eastern bumblebee ( Bombus impatiens ) , which is one of 46 unlike coinage of bumblebees native to North America .

Though Apis mellifera get a slew more attention , native bee like bumblebees are also critically important to our ecosystem , and many of them are suffering greatly from habitat exit , Modern diseases , and pesticide use . Providing pesticide - free , bloom - filled space for them in our gardens can do a pot to help these beautiful insects thrive . And do n’t discount “ weeds . ” Dandelions are not aboriginal to North America , and few people plant them on purpose , but they are still a wonderful source of food for thought for many different native insects .

Many people revere being stung by bees , but most bees are not aggressive , particularly when they are feed on flower . normally as long as you do n’t swat at or maltreat on them , they will leave you alone and keep focussed on the authoritative work they do for our agrarian organisation and the larger ecosystem .

Have photos to portion out ? We ’d love to see your garden , a particular collection of plants you make love , or a wonderful garden you had the probability to visit !

To submit , send 5 - 10 photo to[email protected]along with some information about the plant in the pictures and where you adopt the pic . We ’d love to pick up where you are settle , how long you ’ve been gardening , success you are proud of , failures you learned from , promise for the future , favorite plants , or rummy tale from your garden .

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