HELP SAVE THE BEES

There are some things we can all do to help honeybee and natural bee populations close to home. Here are 5 easy ones:

Plant things that bees like: Bees are all about pollen. If you want to support the many different varieties of bees which range through your yard, plant some things which will feed them. The good news here is that bee-friendly plants are easy to grow. Scatter a variety through your yard, ensuring a good supply of pollen through the warm months. A few general pointers: avoid horticultural plants that are "double." These usually have extra petals instead of anthers. And bees prefer flowers that are blue, purple or yellow. Clover is a great choice. Bees love it, and clover makes attractive and robust ground cover. There are organic varieties available. Other bee-yummy plants: sage, salvia, oregano, lavender, ironweed, yarrow, yellow hyssop, alfalfa, honeywort, dragonhead, echinacea, bee balm (guess where the name comes from?), buttercup, goldenrod and English thyme. Flowering trees are also attractive to bees. Try tulip poplars, tupelos, oranges and sourwoods. Don't forget that bees need sources of shallow water. Unless you have particular bee allergies, don't be afraid of attracting pollinators to your property. The "bees" that give most people trouble — yellowjackets, wasps and hornets — aren’t really bees at all, and won’t be attracted by bee-friendly plants.

Provide bee habitat: A secure place to live is crucial to solitary and colony bees. Unlike honeybees, which live in the waxy hives with which we're all familiar, natural bees make use of many kinds of shelter: abandoned animal burrows, dead trees and branches and in underground nest tunnels. You can help wood-nesting bees by setting out a few inexpensive bee blocks. These are basically blocks of wood with holes of various sizes. Providing a mound or two of loose earth — particularly if they're close to a water source — is like opening a rent-free apartment complex for burrowing bees. Hosting a few bee shelters will give you the opportunity to watch your visitors thrive.

Eliminate garden pesticides: Pesticides are bad for humans. They're worse for bees. Investigate organic and natural means of pest control. Moving in the direction of organic gardening and natural lawn care is a healthy choice, in any case. Vibrant, chemical-free plants and gardens are a friendly invitation to wild bees.

Let your veggies bolt: If at all possible, allow a few leafy vegetables in your home garden to "bolt," or go to seed, after harvest. Seeding plants are a bee's best chance to stock up on food before the colder months. Unlike their wasp and yellowjacket cousins, which die out each winter, real bees slow down and wait for spring. Making sure their larder is stocked will help them snap back once the weather warms.

Support your local beekeepers: Beekeeping as a hobby has declined in recent years. Commercial pressures and unstable bee populations has made raising bees less attractive, but we still rely heavily on domesticated honeybees to pollinate our crops and gardens. Seek out your local beekeepers and buy their honey. There are health benefits to eating local honey, and keeping small beekeepers in business is good for everyone. You're likely to find them selling honey at local farmer's markets and weekend flea markets. Treat yourself to some filtered or comb honey and enjoy one of nature's treasures.

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