Creating A Great Bee Garden

Though there are many factors in creating a fantastic bee garden, by far the most important element is the selection of flowers it contains. Not all flowers are attractive to bees, and some flowers are much more attractive than others. The more of these attractive flowers planted in the same place the better!

One of the most interesting results of our research is that bee have preferences, not only for the flowers they pollinate, but for the gardens they visit. Gardens with ten or more species of attractive plants attracted the largest number of bees. In these kinds of gardens, even those plants known to be less attractive, received higher levels of visits.

The composition of the garden is also important. The more attractive gardens tended to be less manicured, allowing solitary native bees, which make their individual nests in the ground or in trees, to make their nests without disturbance. If you like, bee nests can also be made. If they are placed in a shady area of the garden, they may be used by the bees but they aren't neccesary for a successful bee garden.

The ideal bee garden uses little or no pesticides, and should contain large patches of flowers planted in close proximity to one another. For our purposes, it is necessary that each patch of flowers (each species) is at least 1.5m x 1.5m (for frequency counts). Ideally, the patches will be even larger, allowing the observer to make counts on several different patches (1.5m x 1.5m each) of the same species. Contrary to how it may seem, bees are actually very shy. If an observer spends too long in one place, hovering over the same patch of flowers, the bees will begin to move on to other flowers where they won't be bugged.

To facilitate counts, it is sometimes a good idea to create little paths through the garden so that all patches are accessible to the observer. Labeling each patch/species with their Latin scientific name is extremely important. Unidentified plants can be taken to a local nursery (the employees at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery are especially knowledgeable) to be identified and then labeled. If you like, you can begin your own collection of plant vouchers (see Plant ID protocol) but this is not necessary.

Finally, it is important to plant flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall seasons. As some attractive plants die out, others will take their place to ensure ongoing attractiveness to bees. It will be interesting to watch how the frequencies change in the garden as new species bloom and others fade away!