As flowers begin to bloom, and you start to decorate your yard and garden with all the beautiful flowers that make you happy, we have one simple request…don’t forget the bees!
These small but mighty pollinators are essential for our global food crop pollination, and 75% of these crops depend on bees. So, let’s make sure that our favorite pollinators are taken care of this year. Here are three tips for making sure your garden is designed to help these hard workers thrive, even when they’re away from the hive.
Plant Flowers Everywhere
Bees can travel up to 5 miles in order to find food. As you can imagine, this long of a flight can be exhausting, and without the right food sources and places to rest along the way, this distance can be detrimental to the bee.
Planting large patches of flowers can help bees more easily spot these food sources, and can make it easier on the bee to hop from one native flower to the next. Diversity is key, and the more varieties you have in your yard, the better. Some of the best flowers you can plant for bees include:
- Lavender
- Sunflowers
- Poppies
- Black-eyed Susan
- Honeysuckle
- Lantanta
- Snapdragons
Don’t Use Chemicals
Keep it natural! Many chemicals and pesticides can kill our pollinators, so using all natural remedies like Epsom salt is the way to go. Epsom salt is a completely safe, and non-toxic remedy that can protect your flowers and plants from slugs and snails, but it’s also serves as a magnesium-rich fertilizer. This is a win-win for you and your garden.
Provide a Bee Bath
Not only do bees require a variety of flowers to feed from, but after traveling a long distance, they also require water. Often, they will drink from a bird bath or running water, but this in itself can be dangerous, putting the bee at risk of drowning.
The best way to make sure our buzzing visitors have the water they need without any risk, is by providing a bee bath. You can make your own by placing a plate at ground level, and filling it with water, stones, and rocks, giving the bees a place to safely drink water.
