The flower doesn't dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes.
As most everyone knows, our bee population has declined dramatically the last few years, but what a lot of people don't know is that over one third of our food is pollinated by bees. I heard one scientist say that if all the bees died, the human race would perish in four years. Now I don't know if that's true or not, but I took that to heart and decided to dedicate my garden to helping bees and butterflies.
Follow me below the tangled garden hose for tips on taking care of the bees!
The first thing I should note here is that I am terrible at taking pictures of bees, so many of these pictures have been borrowed from different Pinterest boards. Thanks to all the talented photographers who contributed their work!
Backyard gardens can be wonderful resources for bees, a wide mix of flowers, fruit trees, vegetables and herbs can be planted around the yard and attract many different species of bees, as well as butterflies and other pollinators.
So what flowers do you plant for bees? Well, bees aren't too fussy and there's a wide variety that can be planted in many different zones.
Here in Zone 5A, I've planted lavender, hollyhocks, cosmos, Russian Sage, prairie sage, sunflowers, coneflowers and zinnias.
I'd like to add bee balm and some flowering herbs eventually.
Other flowers like daisies, aster, clematis, crocus, rosemary, catmint, dianthus, poppies, and foxglove all provide food for the bees.
One thing that can complicate the gathering of pollen by bees is the very thing that makes flowers attractive to humans- things like double flowered blooms add extra petals and ruffles and make it hard for the bee to get to the pollen, so remember to plant simple, old fashioned single flowers alongside those gorgeous double blooms!
The next thing to consider is planting to have flowers available from early spring, when the bees are coming out of hibernation all the way to fall when the nights turn colder, and the bees go to sleep for the winter.
For early spring, consider leaving a patch of dandelions in the backyard for early bees. Dandelions are an important first source of nectar for bees and other pollinators, and can keep the bees fed until later in the spring when other flowers start blooming.
I certainly have no problem getting dandelions to grow in my yard, and this past spring I had hundreds of bees flying around them for weeks.
Here's a handy chart on what flowers bloom when, so you can plan your bee friendly garden:
One final note, a bee friendly garden is an organic garden with no chemical pesticides or herbicides that might poison the bees, and the result is you will have unwanted pests alongside the bees. Right now my garden is being eaten to the ground by grasshoppers, so I've employed the grasshopper hunting system to fight back (right now we're losing the war).
Now it's time to show off your bee pictures and share your secrets on attracting more bees! Have a great weekend, everyone!