As you may already know, bees play an important role in the ecosystem, and yet wild bee populations were almost wiped out across the globe. The primary reason is the loss of natural habitats where they can forage and thrive.
Unlike us, bees don’t live in a world with borders and trespassing laws. We’ve all seen bees out foraging in our backyards, at our school campus, outside of work, practically anywhere with blooming trees and other plants.
Beekeepers play an important role in managing and taking care of colonies here in New Zealand and you can play your part too. Creating a bee-friendly garden is the single most important thing you can do to help New Zealand’s bee population survive and thrive. In turn, this is very beneficial for our native plants and crops that bees pollinate. So, let’s get right into it.
Planting Year-Round And Early Bloomers
Ideally, your garden would include a variety of flowers throughout the year. That way, bees can even harvest for food on warmer winter days. It will also ensure that your garden is looking colourful and pleasant throughout the year. Plants such as sage, rosemary, camellias, calendula, and winter-flowering gums are great for providing pollen and nectar through the autumn and winter months.
Moreover, plants that bloom at the end of winter and start of spring are perfect for the bee colony, which requires much-needed energy to replenish itself at that time of year. The winter rose, camellia flowers, tree lucerne, mahonia, and viburnum are perfect examples of late winter / early spring bloomers, offering dependable sources of early-season foraging. Such varieties also enable us to bring you our wonderful multiflora honey.
The Right Flowers, In The Right Place
It may come as a surprise that some flowers are easier for bees to forage than others. A single honey bee will typically visit around 7,000 flowers a day, so planting the right flowers will make their lives so much easier.
Colour is one of these factors since bees see blues, purples, yellows, white, and orange clearly but struggle with red. Checking the blossom colour before planting something, with this fact in mind, will help you create a bee-friendly garden in no time.
Shapes matter just as much as colours. Single-petaled and open-faced flowers, rather than heavy, double-petaled varieties, make it easier for bees to reach the pollen and nectar.
Planting things closely together in an accessible path from the hive makes the journey less energy-consuming for the bees too.
A variety is also welcome. From fruit trees, to flowers, vegetables, berries, and herbs, a good mix enables bees to source all they need within a concentrated area.
Planting native is also important for the New Zealand ecosystem as a whole. Native plants such as NZ Jasmine, Pohutukawa, Rewarewa, NZ Flax, Lemonwood, and Tee Tree can be great additions to your garden. Lili’s Pohutukawa Honey is harvested from such areas with dense populations of the native Pohutukawa tree for example.
Water Access
Like us, bees need plenty of water to survive. Besides drinking it, there are other uses such as hive cooling, digestion, diluting thick honey for consumption, brood care, and winter survival.
Thus, setting up an easily accessible water source in your garden, like a shallow dish, will do just fine. Replacing the water regularly prevents mosquitoes from breeding. It is also important to avoid deep dishes that increase the chances of drowning and adding a couple of small stones or pebbles to the dish can help bees land and drink without falling in completely.
Plants To Avoid
There are certain flowers bred with extra petals (like some ornamental roses, dahlias, or double peonies) that make it nearly impossible for the bees to reach their pollen and nectar.
On a more serious level, there are plants that can be toxic to bees and harmful to humans too. Rhododendrons and Azaleas can poison bees or produce toxic honey that humans can get exposed to. Oleander, Mountain Laurel, and Yew are also harmful to bees.
Then there are modern hybrid plants which have been bred for vain reasons without functional pollen or nectar. Double-Flowered Hibiscus, highly cultivated Hydrangeas, and pollenless ornamental Sunflowers are just some examples.
No Chemical Pesticides
Chemical insecticides, fungicides, and weedkillers harm bees and other pollinating insects. If they do not kill them, they can cause nervous system damage, a weaker queen, and fewer offspring in the future. Therefore, bees rely heavily on us humans to keep them safe.
If you must use something, try using a natural and organic spray alternative. Application is recommended after sunset, once the bees have retired to their hive for the night. Looking at other alternatives, such as physical barriers to stop pests, is also worth considering.