How to Garden for Bees
by Cornelia Reynolds
Every gardener wants to help bees. But many have a question I hear a lot. Can we really make a difference? Making a difference may not sound easy. Or you may feel your potential contribution will be too insignificant for the effort. Depending on your goals, you can make a difference, and it can be as simple as you need it to be. Efforts are valuable at every level and size to restore and preserve a thriving insect population. Gardening for bees is about growing forage—and restoring ecosystems.
For seven years, I have been mending seriously damaged land—an acre and a half of clay banks exposed by earth moving, extensive lawns formerly treated with herbicides, and a section of redwoods and other native trees, a former dumping ground for garbage. For the first two years, not only were there no bees, but to my shock, there were almost no insects at all, except mosquitoes. I told one local nurseryman that I was dismayed to have zero Diabrotica (the pernicious cucumber beetle), and I’m still on his list of crazies.
The land is not yet the bird and pollinator refuge I hope for, but there are thriving veggies, less lawn, and new native plantings. Native bumble bees nest in a small pile of logs. I’ve learned what I know about gardening for bees by doing everything wrong first, or at least less right than I would like. Here are the three basics, as well as some ideas to make a difference with native plants and your veggie garden.
Bee gardening basics are the same for every style and size garden. Container gardens may not be able to provide everything a large garden can, but they have an important role to play. Studies in suburban England and European cities demonstrated how urban and suburban container and doorstep gardens create vital passageways that help bees travel between larger forage sources.
Provide food and water. Ensure that bees have access to a constant source of nectar and pollen from February to at least November in our region. Plant three or more different flowers each season for continuous bloom. Large patches help bees find food and conserve energy. At least 3 square feet is ideal.
Provide sources of fresh, clean water, whether in a shallow bowl or a large birdbath supporting many species. Keep the container fresh so they can rely on it daily. Bees need a rock or stick to stand on while drinking. A birdbath on bare soil makes a small mud puddle for butterflies, honey bees, and bumble bees to sip water and extract minerals from the soil. Mix a bit of sea salt (not table salt, which has little mineral content) or wood ashes into the mud.
Use sustainable gardening practices. Learn about alternatives to harmful pesticides, such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Look for natural pest controls and fertilizers. Products for Certified Organic farmers, labelled “OMRI-approved,” are widely available.
Provide places for bees to nest and raise their young.Most native bees are solitary and burrow into the ground. Leave bare patches of soil in a sunny spot in or near the garden. Other bees nest in stems and pre-existing cavities. Logs and tree stumps in sunny spots provide sites, especially if riddled with beetle tunnels. Hang nesting blocks of untreated wood or bamboo. Clean your homemade or purchased nests annually to prevent disease spread.
Asclepias spp., Queen of Weeds
Once you have the basics down, make a difference with native plants. The first thing I did on the land was to plant a border of thirty non-native lavender, a Mediterranean herb I considered bee friendly. I would not do that today. By the time a friend later asked me if he should do something similar with buddleia, I’d learned a lot more. Buddleia and lavender, like many non-native plants, have only nectar for bees, so his garden would be lacking a source of pollen which bees feed their larvae. Also missing would be a host plant for the butterflies and moths attracted to buddleia. No native invertebrates reproduce on either buddleia or lavender.
Native plants are critical to diversity. Choosing native plants is where gardeners can make a big difference. Our choices directly impact the diversity of life in our yards and, by extension, our local community and beyond.
Certain native bees have life cycles timed to the bloom of specific plant species whose pollen is used to feed their larvae. But many other species are also dependent on a single native species. Most insect herbivores, including butterfly and moth species, eat only plants they have evolved with. A well-known example is monarch butterflies that lay eggs only on milkweed (Asclepias spp.).
The decline of moths and butterflies is tied to loss of their host plants. The resulting loss of caterpillars contributes to the decline of birds who feed caterpillars and other insects to their hatchlings. To rebuild a healthy ecosystem, your garden needs plants with both pollen and nectar—not always found together—and host plants where pollinators raise their young.
Don’t be afraid of native “weeds.” Many native plants with valuable resources for bees are called weeds: butterweed, deerweed, locoweed. They did not fit the settlers’ images of cottage gardens. But they are critical host plants for large numbers of butterflies and moths.
The queen of weeds is Asclepias spp. I am growing Asclepias speciosa, showy pink milkweed, native to Mendocino. It’s a beautiful 3’ tall stand of incredibly fragrant flowers, drought resistant, deer and rabbit resistant, highly attractive to pollinators for its pollen and nectar. Yes, it spreads by tubers. It can be invasive. Caterpillars eat it. It may look raggedy late in the season. Later butterflies emerge, and your garden may become part of a corridor in which butterflies and other wildlife can live and thrive. Plant it where its “weediness” won’t be a problem. But if you have room, plant it.
No monarchs yet, but this summer I saw a pair of Queen butterflies, Danaus gilippus, one of nine species dependent on Asclepias speciosa.
Many valuable plants have weedy reputations. Take goldenrod—the coastal variety, solidago spathulatai, provides nectar and pollen and is host to 53 dependent species (53 DPS) of moths and butterflies. With masses of yellow flowers on upright, slender 4’ stems, it does well in my clay. Like many “weeds,” in the right place—not a cultivated bed—it’s not invasive.
Native plants can be carefree if planned carefully. For an easy care native garden, make sure your plants are the right companions in the right place, ones that share soil, light, and rainwater needs. That is not your rose bed.
Many plants native to Mendocino County are drought tolerant and particular about soil drainage. Summer watering may kill or shorten the lifespan of some, such as Ceanothus spp, but this doesn’t mean they don’t need water to be established through at least the first summer. And always mulch your native plants.
Plan carefully to ensure continuous flowers each season. I’ve enjoyed learning from databases how many dependent species my plants support, but plantings are shaped through trial and errors in my garden. For spring blooms, I am now growing Nemophila menziesii Baby Blue Eyes (6 DPS), among other annuals, and three perennial host plants local to my zip code which flower into further seasons:
Erigeron glaucus Seaside Daisy (21 DPS), provides pollen and nectar, spring to early fall;
Fragaria chiloensis Beach Strawberry (64 DPS), provides nectar, spring to early summer;
Penstemon heterophyllus Foothill Penstemon (29 DPS), provides pollen and nectar, spring to summer.
I’ve listed some online reference sources where you can find native plants at the end of the article.
Pollinators and Your Victory Vegetables
A year round veggie garden provides year round blooms for bees. As I write in mid-winter near the coast, blooming in my garden are rosemary, native and non-native salvias—fought over by over-wintering hummingbirds—and flowering broccoli, where I saw the last bee in December.
Use a wide range of companion plants. Many medicinal herbs and culinary favorites attract bees. Plant rosemary, thyme, and other perennial herbs in or near your vegetable beds. Plant annual herbs like basil among your vegetables in large patches. Include edible flowers, as many deter pests: borage, marigolds, nasturtiums, chives.
Choose heirloom plants. Hybridized herbs, flowers, and veggies are bred not to seed and have little to no resources for bees. Heirloom plants can feed both you and your pollinators.
Let your veggies bolt. When your greens start to go, let them. Their flowers attract pollinators and beneficial insects. This increases your pollinator food supply without new plantings. And letting your greens flower also enables you to save seeds.
Add trees and shrubs for bees. Large shrubs or small trees provide masses of the same flowers in one place. Choose early flowering native trees such as Manzanita or California Redbud; for food, plant blackberries, raspberries, apple, and plum trees. Use them to replace your lawn.
Grow forage. Rebuild local ecosystems. It’s a real opportunity to make a difference.
Find plants native to your area at: Pollinator Partnership Ecoregional Plant Guides by Region at: http://pollinator.org/PDFs/Guides/ and National Wildlife Federation’s database by zip code at http://nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/Plants/
Cornelia Reynolds retired in 2017 from a career in nonprofit management. She is devoting her retirement to pollinator conservation and eliminating toxic pesticides from the food chain. She is Chair of Fort Bragg Bee City USA and active in the Elders Climate Action Nor-Cal Chapter.
Photo credits: Main photo by Linda MacElwee.
Asclepias speciosa by Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Erigeron glaucus by Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
Nemophila menziesii by Eric Johnston (Ericj), CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Fragaria chiloensis by Franco Folini from San Francisco, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Penstemon heterophyllus by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
