Honey bees help your garden to become more beautiful. Having bees buzzing around brings life to the yard and makes flowers and other plants lush and abundant. You can attract bees by planting wildflowers, fruits, native plants, vegetables and sunflowers; letting your yard grow a little wild; and providing water and shelter for bees.
Planting Bee-Friendly Flowers
- Plant flowers. Bees are attracted with flowers native to their habitat, so be sure to plant a lot of flowers!
- Plant yellow, white, blue and purple flowers. These colors attract bees more than pinks, oranges and reds do. Your garden doesn’t have to be entirely yellow, blue and purple, but having a good amount of flowers with these hues will keep the bees buzzing in your yard.
- Plant flowers that bloom in sequence. If all of your flowers bloom at the same time, the bees will have a feast, then run out of food before the summer’s end. Plant a variety of flowers that will bloom throughout the spring, summer, and into the fall to keep the bees in your neighborhood fed and happy.
Making Your Yard a Bee Haven
- Let it get a little wild. If your grass is short, every stick has been picked up, and there’s not a muddy spot to be found, bees will have trouble finding a home in your yard. Bees are wild animals who need a wild habitat to live. If you want them to take up residence in your yard, do the following:
- Allow for some open, meadow-like spaces in your yard and garden.
- Leave patches of exposed dirt that turn to mud when it rains. Some bees live underground and will thank you for access to the mud they need.
- Provide a bee shelter. Rotting vegetation and stumps are great shelters for bees. More backyard gardeners are installing hives and other bee shelters to make nesting spots for bees. You can start by building a small bee “house” using the following methods:
- Take a small wooden box and paint it a bright color, preferably white, yellow, bright blue or purple. Use organic paint so the bees won’t get sick.
- Turn the box on its side. Be sure you’ve used enough tubes so that they don’t slip out when you move the box. Hang from a tree or a post at eye level in an area sheltered from rain.
