Get the buzz on bee-friendly gardening with our bee-ginners tips, lessons learned, and reflections on establishing our bee-friendly home garden. We’ve been working on our new home’s landscaping, including our bee-friendly garden and things are certainly buzzing!
The Bee-Ginning...
Moving is always difficult, but there are opportunities as well as challenges whenever we start again. The latest garden-in-progress has now been through its first summer-to-summer annual cycle with many guest bees. When we were invited to share the honeybee infographic below, it was a great time to reflect on our first year of dedicated bee-friendly gardening at the new house. The bee-ginning so to speak. Hehehe.
Developing Our Bee-Friendly Garden
We’ve been having great success drawing bees into the new garden with our plantings thus far. I have high hopes that things will get even better as existing plants mature and we plant out the remaining semi-empty beds now that interfering renovation work (like exterior painting and scaffolding) is over and our youngest puppy has matured enough not to trample, taste, or dig up all the smaller bedding plants. His favourite outdoor napping position is completely on top of one of my (now pancaked) convolvulus plants. Must be nice, soft, and cool with all that silky silver foliage! Read more about gardening with pets in our post on pet-friendly gardening.
The most popular plants in our bee-buffet seem to be the lavender (we currently have three types, mass planted in different areas) and the old-fashioned iceberg roses. But the bees seem to be enjoying just about everything as the plants cycle through their blooming seasons. The monarch butterflies are also enjoying the garden, and seem especially fond of our hydrangeas at the moment. That’s really cool and it’s an unexpected treat to have them visiting our garden.
Pollination seems to be going ok, too. There are lots of seeds developing in our flower beds and tasty things growing around the edible gardens, including our young fruit trees and the berry brambles. Fingers crossed for the seasons to come!
Interested in exploring bee-friendly ideas for your own home garden? Buzz on down for some tips, lessons learned, and a bee-utiful infographic below! You can also explore other bee-related posts using the bee-friendly gardening tag.
As a mini-update since this post was first written and shared, those seasons to come were, unfortunately, short. Although our new garden got off to a great bee-ginning, we’ve moved yet again and are starting fresh with yet another new garden. But we like to think that the bees are still happily buzzing around at the old home (and those before it), and the bees in our new neighbourhood are already making themselves at home here.
Food for Bees: Planting Nectar-Rich Food Sources
When selecting flowers for bee-friendly gardens, include nectar and pollen rich plants. Some flowers are inherently more abundant than others, but environmental conditions like temperature, soil conditions, aspect, etc. can also affect nectar levels.
Some foraging bees visit only one species at a time, so mass plantings or repeating the same plants around your garden helps provide an ample supply. Interestingly, bees are most drawn to yellow, blue, and purple flowers if any of those work in your garden scheme.
Looking for some bee-friendly plant ideas? Check out our post on plants for bees, birds and butterflies for inspiration. You can also investigate your local guides and bee-friendly options for best planting, including native flowering plants for your area. Also check on your local “pest” species to avoid planting anything that your council might categorise as invasive or restricted. One gardener’s treasured plant might be another gardener’s invasive nightmare.
Water Sources for Bees
Ensure fresh clean water is reliably available. Bees need water to cool their hives in warm weather and dilute food for their larvae. A shallow pool of some sort where they can safely land on the margins (or rocks and aquatic plants in larger water sources) works nicely.
We definitely didn’t want standing water around our garden to add to the mosquito population, but our fresh water birdbath (and sometimes the dog’s drinking dishes) have been visited by guests. The drinking dishes aren’t ideal, as we wouldn’t want any accidental stings. It’s better if the bees have rocks for perching in the birdbath so we can be both bee-friendly and pet-friendly.
Providing Safe Shelter for Bees
Our current garden is free-range without any dedicate hives or homes, so the bees are transients. At least as far as we know! Perhaps a few solitary bees might be squatting happily and, if so, they’re welcome to stay. Bees benefit from safe spaces to shelter, and might potentially even make their homes in your bee-friendly habitat.
Feeling handy? You can try building an insect hotel for solitary bees, customised to your local solitary bee species and available space. Ready-made products are also available if you’re not up to the DIY challenge. Whatever style of hotel you choose, remember to provide good housekeeping for the hotel guests.
If you’d like to become a backyard beekeeper with your own little hive of honeybees, it’s really important to check your local council rules and other applicable regulations. Here in New Zealand there are very strict rules around responsible bee-keeping for the safety of people, bees, and the wider industry. Some keepers will position guest hives on suitable properties, which might also be a viable in between option if you’re keen!
Cautions for Bees and Garden Chemicals
Bee Aware, Bee Safe
Shared spaces can sometimes be difficult to manage, but bee safety is important for you, your family, your pets, and (of course) the bees.
Bees aren’t usually aggressive, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get stung if you inadvertently make them feel threatened. I accidently did not too long ago, with a poor bumblebee caught in a blossom against my leg while pruning roses. Ouch! Fortunately, we both survived relatively unscathed, although my leg took a while to recover. I was wearing long pants, but they were yoga-style leggings and the stinger went right through. Another lesson learned for me!
If you’re inclined to be extra cautious, it can help to avoid looking or smelling like a delicious flower. Hahaha! Admittedly, I usually smell like sunblock whenever I’m out gardening… probably not very tasty. In addition to avoiding floral perfumes and lotions, you can dress in muted colours and/or avoid the bees’ bright floral favourites. Wearing long sleeves/legs, closed toed shoes, gloves, and/or a hat can help, and keep you sun-smart whilst working in the garden too.
Honeybees and Our Food System Infographic
