FIVE Easy Ways To Help Bees and Other Pollinators

If you’ve been following the news at all lately, you’re probably aware that our pollinators are in trouble. Goodness, our whole planet is in trouble!

But we’re going to tackle one thing at a time. So here are five easy and impactful ways you can help the bees:

 

#1 - DON’T become a backyard beekeeper

When people talk about becoming an urban or suburban beekeeper, they’re talking about honey bees. If you live in North America, honey bees are actually not native here, and they are NOT at risk for extinction. Any decline in their numbers is a concern of economics, not conservation, because big agriculture buys honey bees to pollinate their acres of crops.

They do, however, compete with our native bees, which brings us to…

 

#2 - Plant native flowering plants

About one quarter of our native bees ARE at risk for extinction and they need native flowering plants. It’s estimated that 20-40% of our native bees specialize on only one or two types of native flowers. If we don’t have that plant, then we don’t have that bee.

 

#3 - Keep those perennial stems around

If you grow perennial plants and they die back in the winter, resist the urge to tidy up. Instead, leave the flowering stalks standing. Then, in early spring, cut them back to about knee height. This creates the perfect nesting spots for mama bees looking for a cozy home.

 

#4 - Leave some stumps and old wood around

Not all bees live in hives and hollow stems. Other native bees adopt tunnels made by beetles and carpenter ants to use as their nesting sites. And ground nesting bees appreciate the cover a good pile of sticks and brush provides.

 

#5 - Eliminate pesticides

Pesticides don’t know which bugs we like and don’t like, so when you kill pests, you kill native bees, too. A common class of pesticide called neonicotinoids are particularly terrible, as they make an entire plant toxic, including the pollen and nectar that bees eat and feed to their babies.

 

Small changes add up

By making even one of these adjustments in your yard or garden, you’re giving our native bees a fighting chance. And in return, they’ll keep our flowers blooming, our fruits growing, and our planet thriving.