Encouraging Bees Into Your Garden

Bees are crucial for not just our gardens, but for our own eco system too. This is because we rely on them to pollinate our plants, crops, fruits, vegetables and for us then to harvest and use as food. Without bees, our world would be very different. They are the number one pollinator and this can be used to great effect in our everyday household gardens too.

The bee can boost the health and therefore beauty of our gardens by frequent visits and pollination. The fact is however, that not all gardens are appealing to bees, so we offer here some helpful tips to try and encourage more bees to visit.

One of the main attractions for bees to a garden is the range of flowers available; the more diverse, the better. Certain flowers are more attractive to bees too, so commit to some research about which types of flower they prefer. Basically, the flowers that are rich in pollen and nectar are what the bees are looking for, so these are the ones to purchase and plant. Even what we associate as being weeds, such as dandelions can help bees prosper in the short time that they are around.

Alongside this, bees like a light garden as opposed to one where not much light penetrates. Furthermore, a garden whose layout has flowers in continuous 'streams', rather than sectioned gardens is preferred. Again, richness and diversity is the key here. The bee wants to have as many options and as close at hand as possible. This will be seen as a great invitation to more bees and in turn, will bring your garden a greater chance of maintaining its beauty and health.

Try mixing up traditional plants and flowers with more exotic varieties. These usually have a large amount of pollen and so attract the bees. They also look great in a garden together with more standard, native plants. The trick here is that the bees help support the native species, but get most of their nectar from the exotic plants. Using this as a method for encouraging bees is both rewarding and fun, because you begin to see your garden transform into a living monument, where the bees delight in the variety of flowers.

There may challenges in the road to creating a bee friendly garden and it may take some trial and error. However, if you persevere and stick to a plan of action, then it should not be too long before the bees start to visit your patch in their droves.