When you provide habitat and food for bees, you also:
All just for planting flowers and herbs for these friendly pollinators!
Learn the full scope of how to create a habitat for bees with this in-depth guide.
According to the FAO of the UN, bees provide priceless value to our food crops. Through their ecosystem service of pollination, bees provide food for humans and animals. What's more, is that they help create diversity in fruiting and flowering plants.
Bees and other pollinators:
Furthermore, this research article highlights just some of the top food crops that bees pollinate:
Bees are a diverse and nuanced species, and go far beyond the honeybee.
For example, Franklin’s Bumble Bee only lives in small areas of Oregon and California. This species is Critically Endangered (xerces). Franklin's Bumblebee was last seen in 2006. But in spite of this, it not yet officially designated as extinct (OCS).
Some bees are specialist species. A specialist species has developed a relationship with a few plants in the same genus. For example, there are bees specialized to blueberries, squash, and orchard plants (wired). These specialists are also known as oligolectic bees. More extreme specialists that feed on only one plant called monolectic (wikipedia).
Honeybees are a generalist species. Generalist bees can source nectar and pollen from almost all plants. They are also more tended to by apiarists. Honeybees don’t pollinate food like tomatoes because they are actually too small to do so (wired).
With this information, it's critical to plant for all bees, not just honeybees (although they are great too!).
The modern way of farming has a negative impact on the bee population.
Some farming practices that are harmful to bees include:
Their habitat is also impacted by climate change and habitat loss. This reduces their food sources and quality of life (fao).
Due to this, around 35% of pollinating insects are at risk for severe population decrease (UN).
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) monitors endangered and threatened species. According to the IUCN, 27 species of bees are now endangered.
Among these endangered bees are:
In this article I've stressed the ecosystem services that bees provide for human food. It's also important to note that they also pollinate butterfly food. For example, the Regal Fritillary butterfly is endangered, and its larvae eat violets. Violets are pollinated by bees. Bees help to develop viable seed to spread the violet population.
The best flowers for bees are both beautiful and fragrant. Native plants are often the most helpful for your local and wild bees, and they usually thrive without much fuss on your part.
Plant native plants with varied bloom times to provide year-round pollen and nectar in your backyard.
Best flowers and plants for bees: NECTAR
-wikipedia, sussex.ac.uk + gardeners.com
Best plants for bees: POLLEN
-wikipedia, sussex.ac.uk + gardeners.com
In this plan for a full sun garden, I've included herbs that bees and other beneficial insects love.
Fennel will send up amazing blooms if allowed to perennialize. I have personally seen a slew of bees daily on my perennial fennel when it is in bloom - it's pretty impressive!
Lavender offers fragrance in addition to nectar. This herb can be dried to add beauty to your home year-round.
Goldenrod is perfect for your pollinator patch. 've actually included it twice here! This is because goldenrod is a late-blooming flower. In the autumn, it provides both nectar and pollen when not many other blooms are available.
Echinacea and calendula are great for a range of beneficial insects. These two plants have medicinal properties as well.
Comfrey note: DO NOT INGEST. Comfrey is a prolific perennial plant. You will often see it planted in permaculture for its green material. You can add the leave matter to compost piles for a nitrogen boost or chop and drop it in your garden.
Borage is the kind of plant that once you have it in your garden, you'll have it forever. Its not a perennial plant, but it has a fantastic ability to self-sow. It's worth it though - the bees go wild for this plant!
Catmint won't bloom until its second year, but when it does, it will attract bees by the dozens. I've actually had to wait until nightfall to harvest my catmint because during the day it's so full of bees!
In my experience, I have seen amazing results with planting a crimson clover lawn on my property. The number of bees that I saw visit my clover lawn was remarkable. I could hear the sound of them every time I approached this area of my yard! It was such a delight to walk through this area of my yard.
If I had just kept that spot as a lawn, it would have attracted so many bees. Lawns are essentially a monoculture. In contrast, lawn alternatives create a hotspot of biodiversity in your yard.
I actually found the experience of sowing the red clover lawn to be extremely easy. I had some bare patches of dirt mixed in with the grass, and I scattered the seeds pretty evenly over both areas. I did this during a week in the spring where there was a good amount of rain. I didn't need to water the red clover all spring and summer, even during a record drought year.
Red clover is an annual, so I found that it needs to be resown to get the same results. As a bonus, I noticed that the red clover did not out compete the dandelion and cat's ear flowers in this area. This provided the bees had a feast of options to choose from.
If you are sowing seed directly into the area where the garden will be permanently, it is best to do so after your last frost if you’re working with a regional seed mix.
Most of the other single plants also prefer to be sown after last frost, although you can start them inside 4-6 weeks before your last frost and plant the seedlings out once nights are above freezing.
The exceptions to this rule are plants that need cold stratification. You can read this guide for the full scope of cold stratification and a comprehensive plant list, but the following plants need a period of cold to trigger germination.
Agastache (anise hyssop): cold stratify for 30 days; needs light to germinate
Bee Balm: cold stratify for 15 days; needs light to germinate
Catmint: cold stratify by freezing seeds overnight, then soaking in water for 24 hours before sowing; needs light to germinate
Comfrey: cold stratify for 30 days (source)
Hollyhock: cold stratify 14 days; needs light to germinate
Lavender: cold stratify 21 days; needs light to germinate; can take up to 60 days to germinate
Lemon Balm: sow seeds and keep warm + moist 2 weeks; then cold stratify for 5 weeks (source)
Milkweed: cold stratify for 30 days
Oregano: cold stratify for 7 days; needs light to germinate
Poppy (not California, but other varieties): cold stratify 14 days; needs light to germinate
Scabiosa: no cold stratification needed, but needs light to germinate
Thistles: cold stratify 10 days
Thyme: sow seeds on surface level in a warm area for 2 weeks and keep soil moist; move seeds to a cold moist area for 4 weeks; needs light to germinate
You can accomplish this cold period by placing seeds in the refrigerator for the recommended cold time, or by sowing seeds outside before last frost.
In most climates, these plants will do well in full to partial sun.
One of the nice things about flowers and herbs is that they usually thrive in soils that are low in nutrients. These soil types may have difficulty growing vegetables.
Optimal soil for the flowers and herbs I've listed here is well drained and aerated. But in most instances it does not need to be high in nutrients for the bee garden to do well.
Lavender is one plant that I’ve had issues with, as it does not like wet feet and heavy clay soil. Willow on the other hand prefers moist conditions. So if you have low areas where water collects after the rains, you may wish to plant willow there. Willow offers an early bee food source, so it's great to have in your garden.
Where possible, plant seeds adapted to your location and ones which are native to your location; as those will need less manual watering.
Trees and perennials typically need additional water until they get established, and after a few years they will thrive with little added water input in most areas.
If you live in a particularly dry climate or have dry summers, select native plants and plants that do well in dry Mediterranean or dry high desert climates.
According to Adler, Lynn S. in her paper entitled “The Ecological Significance of Toxic Nectar.” (Oikos 91, no. 3 (2000): 409–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3547516.), the following plants are toxic to bees:
The following plants, according to the same research, can create honey that is toxic to humans:
In this section, I'll address specific kinds of pesticides that are known to harm bees.
The most understood pesticides that harms bees are neonicotinoids. These chemicals target different insects. But, the plants that get sprayed on can transfer the chemical to the bees. This happens because the chemical is on the nectar and pollen (source).
The nicotine in neonicotinoids is part of what makes this pesticide harmful to bees. Nicotines are why deadly nightshade, golden angel's trumpet, and tobacco are on the list of toxic plants to bees above. These three plants are in the nicotine family.
Unfortunately, neonicotinoids are the most used out of all insecticides globally. The chemical can stay in the plant’s nectar and pollen for weeks. It can also be absorbed by soil and remain months or even years afterwards (source).
It is important to note that many chemicals are not yet studied for their affect on bees. This is still a developing area in conservation and agriculture.
One piece of information that surprised me about native bees is that 70% live in the ground! This is another reason to practice no-till or low-till gardening, as tillage destroys their homes.
They may nest in holes created by rodents. If you see spaces like this in your yard, it is a good idea to leave them, especially if you observe a bee coming and going from the hole in the ground (source).
Other wild bees prefer holes in wood, stems, or piles of branches - these are known as nesting bees. You can leave hollow stalks of perennial plants for them and other nesting insects, or purchase a bee home for them that emulates their natural habitat.
Here are some options if you’d like your own bee nesting site in your garden:
Teardrop Bamboo Mason Bee House
In addition to creating homes for bees, it is also important to create a spot for them to access water safely and easily. If a water source is too deep, bees can drown. A shallow bowl with a few stones in it will work well. To entice the bees, you can add a little bit of salt or sugar to your water (source).
You can also be fancy and place one of these handmade glass orbs in your garden to quench the thirst of bees in your garden!
Provide a year-round supply of food sources to encourage bees and other pollinators to make your garden their permanent residence. This means that when your food plants need pollination, these beneficial insects will already be cozy in your yard and will help out with that task. A win for the environment, and a win for your garden!
