The Buzz on Creating a Bee Garden
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
Attracting bees to your garden has many benefits. The best thing about a bee garden? It will attract other winged wildlife too, turning your garden into a wildlife haven. If bees aren't on your top ten insect list, don't worry! Most bees are gentle, they don't want to sting you, they are just protecting themselves. Leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone.
Why Attract Bees?
Attracting wild bees to your garden benefits your plants in many ways. Not only will you wind up with bees, you'll also attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and other insects that can help pollinate your garden and create a lush, pesticide free environment. Many people like to attract bees to help pollinate their fruit orchards. If you'd like to attract these industrious insects to your garden, whether to create your own honey, or just to enjoy their busy buzzing on a hot summer day, here are the plants that help you do it.
Plant the Right Plants
Bees are attracted to colors, and the brighter the better. Bees have very complex eyesight, and they seem to recognize some colors better than others. Plant basil, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, borage, catnip, chamomile, clover, cosmos, fennel, foxglove, germander, hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, lupine, marjoram, Mexican orange blossom, mints, rosemary, sage, sweet cicely, thyme, wallflower (a special favorite of bees), and winter savory to keep them coming back to your garden.
Most blue-flowered plants will bloom in successive months, so you'll always have one or more plants in bloom in the garden to attract your sweet friends. It's said that hyssop has a sleep-inducing affect on bees, and they can be found sleeping peacefully in hyssop hedges on warm summer nights.
You'll notice many of these plants have blue, purple, or even some yellow blooms, which all seem to be the preferred colors of bees. While butterflies are attracted to the nectar and scents of a garden, bees seem to prefer vivid hues above anything else. They also need to find their favorite colors within two miles or so from their hives, so they don't have to fly very far away to find their favorite flowers. The easiest way to choose what to plant in your garden? Find out which of these plants are native, or grow well in your area, and plant those first. They'll thrive, attract more bees, and be easier to take care of.
Where to Put it
To create a bee garden, it's best to locate it in a corner of your garden that receives plenty of sun and is well-protected from winds. Surrounding your corner with a hedge or vine is a good idea, just to give the bees a feeling of safety and security. They like places they can hide and where they can make their nests. Many bees don't live in hives; they live underground in burrows. If you provide them with a safe environment, they might just make their home right in the garden. Some garden stores are now selling "bee houses," which you can mount on a pole in your garden. Bees need water, too. You can provide it by a birdbath, a pond, or a dripping faucet.
Creating a safe haven for bees isn't very difficult, and can reap giant rewards. These gentle creatures will pollinate your garden for you, giving you larger and healthier flowers and vegetables. They'll also attract other insects that will eat predators and destructive insects, keeping your garden more pest-free without the use of pesticides. You might even end up with a little honey as a by-product of your garden!
