Give the Bees a home

From: Wild Bee by Natural Life Jul-24-2022 02:23:am

🌸 Bring a Buzz to your garden!

How to bring the Buzz back into your garden

Creating a habitat for bees in your garden is more important now than ever, with world numbers in decline. These busy buzzy insects are necessary for the pollination of flowers, vegetables and fruit in any garden, and attracting them is easy.

Aim for Continuous Flowering all Year

Many native bees need nectar and pollen throughout the year. Although many of the solitary species, such as Blue Banded Bees and Resin Bees, only fly in the warm months, others, such as Stingless Bees, Reed Bees and Carpenter Bees, fly on warm days all year round. So choose plants with a long flowering period, or choose a selection of plants that will flower in sequence in each season of the year.

Select flowers with a variety of colours and shapes.

Different kinds of native bees like different kinds of flowers.
• Some have short tongues and like shallow flowers such as daisies, tea tree and Eucalypt blossom. Others have long tongues and like tubular flowers such as Coastal native rosemary and lavender.
• Some prefer blue or purple flowers. However, mauve, pink, yellow and white flowers
are also popular.
• Some native bees have strong preferences for a particular native flower. However many will happily visit a wide range of both exotic and native flowers.

• Native bees enjoy exotic flowers as well as native flowers. Indeed, even weed flowers can help support native bees! Dandelions are tough, drought-tolerant and long flowering. Stingless Bees and Lasioglossum Bees love them. So it is a good idea to consider the seasonal conditions and the availablilty of other flower resources thoughtfully, when you weed your Bee-Friendly Garden.

Don't weed too much

It may come as a surprise but many plants we consider weeds are actually great for wildlife. Dandelions, clovers and daisies attract bees and provide pollen and nectar so try to relax on the weeding. Or at least leave areas of the garden untouched to let nature do its thing.

Give them Water

Providing water in your garden not only quenches the thirst of birds and other mammals. It will also help the bees in your garden too.

Make sure you include twigs and leaves in the container to prevent bees from drowning.

ps.If you see a tired bee, a simple solution of sugar and water will help revive it.

Give your Bees a chemical-free sanctuary

Have a 100% poison free zone for bees, as well as your family, pets, birds, wildlife and other insects. An organic, pesticide-free, and ecologically sustainable garden is a magnet for bees and other beneficial insects like ladybirds, preying mantis, spiders and parasitic wasps.

These insects help you by keeping many pests like aphids, scale, moths, grasshoppers and caterpillar numbers in balance. Some of these insects also feed on nectar and whilst in your garden, will dine out on other insects, saving you time, money and effort on pest control. Major bonus!

Create a Bee Hotel

Investing in a bee hotel is a great way to boost bee diversity in your garden, by attracting solitary species. Position bee hotels in full sun and over time, solitary bees will lay their eggs in bee hotel cavities. The eggs then hatch and larvae emerge from the hotel.

Arrange the different nesting materials by evenly spacing the habitat types within. Pack it tightly so nothing moves. Fill in any gaps with bundles of pithy stems and bamboo pieces.

• Fennel stems

• Bamboo hollows

• Drilled logs

• Clay packed pipes and blocks