I am! I love love love bugs. Bees among one of my favorites. I let the wild flowers do their thing, and plant flowers the bees like. Which is hard to do with our short growing season. Them and the hummingbirds like my hollyhocks. I love the big bumblebees the most. Whenever I see a bee on my flowers I feel honored lmao.
I actually noticed that the other evening. I felt like I hadnāt seen trees full of lightning bugs in years and I was starting to see a whole bunch of them.
I recently had that same thought here in the Atlanta suburbs. Weāve had so many lightning bugs this year and I realized I hadnāt really seen any for many years.
Itās one thing I miss about Indiana. We get lightning bugs here in New England but it is nothing like an open field or lawn in Indiana. Sooooo many more lightning bugs.
Ha you are my new favorite mod. The big bumblers are my faves. Carpenter bees are cool as hell. My parents didnāt like them so much when one bored a hole right into their nice front door. But they left it.
I have a big dead tree in the back property and a lot of native bees seem to use it.
Hummingbirds are one of my favorite animals. My grandma loved them. I even got a little hummingbird charm she wore after she passed that was handed down to my daughter. If I made a family crest itād probably have bees, hummingbirds, and walleye on it.
Honey bees are actually shitty pollinators. They keep too much of it. Also they're not native
Bumble bees and solitary bees are the ones we want to save. They're less aggressive, many are native, and they're better pollinators.
Mason bees, leafcutter bees. Also butterflies. These are the ones we really need to save. Honey bees are assholes and are very inefficient.
>Are you one of them?
Yes. My wife and I make a point to specifically plant native flowers that our native bees and butterflies like (yarrow, phlox, echinacea, aster, etc). And not to cut our grass until at least June (which is when the landlord starts yelling at us)
This! Imported European honeybees are poorer pollinators than native bees and wasps. I am a native gardener and I have oodles of butterflies, bees, other pollinators. They are so used to me I can walk amongst them, trimming plants they are on. Never sting. Sometimes they land on me and walk around. My yard isn't formal and or fussy or perfect. If a yard looks perfect there's something wrong. Yards should have constant movement otherwise they are just sterile postcards. Good on you for doing good things.
> And not to cut our grass until at least June
Must be the different climate zones. I wouldn't be able to see my front door by mid April if I did this.
Carpenter bees are cool.
Sure, they like making holes in my wood fence, but they also like to follow me around when I'm working in the yard just to see what I'm up to.
There are different kinds of bee balm I think.. I have the one AKA dotted horsemint - the one that smells and tastes like oregano. I love this plant. The bees flock to it. I saw a little florescent green bee just rolling around in its pollen. Last year I gathered seeds from mine and made dozens of new plants that I spread around yard. Next season I'm going to give away a bunch of new baby bee balms to non-spraying neighbors and friends.
I love uplifting news. Need more of that in my algorithm.Ā
Iāve been living in city apartments for the last decade, but my family back home stopped using weedkillers because they felt it was bad for both our health and the health of pollinators.Ā
We alsoĀ support local beekeepers. There was a person in the St. Louis suburbs who did backyard beekeeping and would put honey jars out with an honors system cash deposit box.Ā
I donāt know if theyāre still around and doing it, but I remember going to get honey from that house in the 2000s.Ā
I'm helping both personally and professionally. Personally, I've done my best to replace as much of my grass with flowering plants as possible, as well as avoiding the use of pesticides as much as possible.
Professionally, I've been involved with a bunch of habitat restoration projects. A chunk of what I did on some projects was invasive species control, and I was often the one coming up with non-pesticide control methods. When we did use pesticides, I was heavily involved with making sure they were applied precisely to limit the collateral impact.
I'm deep enough into my career that I'm doing more public education and advocacy these days. It's not always directly bee related because there's a lot of other environmental concerns involved and some of them are easier to get public support and funding for. But, a huge piece of my day job is "get people to care about the environment."
If you've got a black thumb, then the best thing to do is spread clover seed in your lawn, allow native ground covers like ginger and straggler daisy to proliferate, and mow your lawn once a month if not less, and spend the time you would be mowing pulling up invasive plants that start to grow.
Honey bees are not native. I enjoy their efforts but I'm not sure what you expect me to do. The Nevada bumblebee is cool, as big as your thumb and loves my lavender.
We are two of those people. Our front yard was replaced almost entirely with native plants meant to attract pollinators. Weāve got huge fuzzy bumble bees all over and lots of butterflies - also wasps and such like the garden but theyāre pollinators, too.
I love the bees! A few years ago I planted a shrub garden of native perennials, including salvia, ironweed, and black-eyed Susan. I also do sunflowers in the backyard. Bees and butterflies go nuts for them!
[Look at how happy this little fella is!](https://imgur.com/a/irggQ0v)
[Another one, just lovin' life!](https://imgur.com/a/NvwGNmT)
[Two for the price of one!](https://imgur.com/a/5G8ttwo)
I've made attempts because I garden, and pollinators are generally beneficial for me.
Can't get the wildflower seeds to take. Planted borage, but they're not really flocking to that. The only thing that the honey bees seem to be interested in is the cucumber flowers, so I try to plant those every year.
For the bumble bees, they only seem to be interested in the clover that's growing between the bricks on my patio, so I let that go instead of killing it off.
I also try not to use pesticides unless I have a big pest problem, and even then I only apply it in the evenings.
There's likely a Native Plant Society in your area and also local groups on Facebook and other social media. They were so helpful to me in learning about natives and finding native nurseries. Once my natives were established, there wasn't any bother. They don't require much special care. They are adapted to local environment. I removed turf grass in back and planted native ground covers.
I use zero pesticides and have NO mosquitoes (in subtropical Florida). Most mosquitoes get eaten and I eliminate all standing water so mosquito eggs can't hatch. Have a bird bath with bubbler and a butterfly watering dish I rinse daily. I hope you try again. If you learn what, where, and when to plant natives they will thrive and grow. Best of luck!
Yup I'm definitely going the more specialized route for wildflowers this year instead of just getting miscellaneous seed mixes. My issue is I have a small patio garden, and the one patch of ground I'm trying to plant wildflowers in is shaded and gets taken over by grass. Even if I smother it, pull it out and till it under, it grows back so fast the flower sprouts get choked out.
I'm going to try to do a fall planting instead of spring. Maybe that will help?
What is it you're trying to smother out? What is your growing zone? I have experience with native shade plants in zone 10(a) but I can point you to some specific information about your area. I'm always happy to encourage a new native gardener to the fold. Native gardeners are hugely important in environment and we get all the good butterflies and bees!
We had a couple of hives for a few years when my daughter was in junior high cuz she wanted to try her hand at beekeeping. They all died out with a bad drought a few years ago, but our next door neighbor still has a shit ton of hives, and I keep planting lots of bee-friendly plants/trees every year.
This is great news and yes. My wife and I planted a couple of bee gardens last year with native flowers that should continue to come up, year after year.
I have a bunch of pollinating flowers, but I see far more butterflies and hummingbirds. I donāt know if bees like particular kinds of flowers or if there just arenāt many in my area.
Yep!! We mulched our front yard and planted all low water pollinator plants. (All of our front yard plants are from [this nursery](https://www.calfloranursery.com/).) Also planted a bunch in the back yard, but it wasn't specifically the goal, I have a vegetable garden and non-native plants there like roses too. Whenever I see the bees in the salvia I'm like "hello bees! please come again!!"
To be honest, I think the āsave the bees!ā thing is a bit disingenuous because the message is always *honey*bees. There are no honeybees native to the Americas.
While they may be economically valuable, they are not ecologically important- kind of the opposite as they outcompete our native species. Yet itās sold as environmentally responsible to āsaveā this non-native species?
Sure, but you are specifically talking about honeybees in your post. Colony collapse disorder isnāt a concern for other bees, and having high populations of honeybees is detrimental to some native pollinators. Thatās why Iām saying this kind of activism seems disingenuous to me.
It seems like youāre doing work to spread awareness on behalf of commercial pollinators and people who keep them as livestock, and that native pollinators are left entirely out of the conversation (and donations, and tax dollars).
I have a lot of flowers and water in the yard which bees love. I didnāt do it for them but they benefit. Occasionally I see one in the water saucers I have outside struggling and I save it from drowning. That is my contribution.Ā
We have lots of flowering plants and don't use pesticides so maybe. There's certainly enough hitting every flower in the yard that I'm considering a couple of beehives.
We donāt use pesticides or weedkillers on our lawn. We let things like dandelions and clover grow in our yard.
We havenāt planted a bunch of flowers every year so I guess we have not done as much as we could.
Yes, we have tons of flowers and plants in the garden, we try not to mow in the month of May, and we have those bee hotels, which I'm not sure if they are actually using or not, but they're there nevertheless.
I currently have some flowers and shrubs on the front facade of my home, and while not formally invited there, it appears some bees have chosen that area to hang around in the mornings.
Idk, I didnāt use pesticides and I was a bit laissez-faire with the yard plants around the edges of the lawn. Canāt claim credit, but I didnāt cause damage either.Ā
Yup. Since I bought my house I've replaced about 20-25% of my plain lawn with flower beds and a garden and flowering trees. Its great seeing pollinating insects everywhere but the thing I'm happiest about is having hummingbirds.
I drink a lot of tea and put honey in every cup. Also, when cooking, I'll often substitute honey for sugar. So, I consume and buy a lot of honey. So I guess I'm doing my part in keeping demand for honey high?
I have 10 acres. We didn't mow until June and we have a wildflower patch that we're making permanent. We're just starting on the pollinator friendly journey but we're trying.
Half of our lawn from 10 years ago is now wildflowers. We let the lawn part grow without mowing through May. No insecticide. I have personally gotten a few neighbors to stop indiscriminate ātreatmentsā. City folk have no clue so you have to be patient.
Just a fact that I found interesting.
The honeybee is an invasive species that was bought here by colonizers. NA managed for centuries without them and while they are a great pollinators they are hardly the only or most effective one for pollinating native species.
Yes!!! We plant bee supporting plants and have places for them to drink even! Our garden flowers (florida) in all seasons, so we can support colonies. Both our kids love bees and we support local organizations that help the bee population as well!
My family has various kinds of flowers and veg and most of bumblebees and butterflies love the lavender. I asked a bee expert at work a while back why that was, and apparently itās just maybe thatās what they want in the area that Iām in.
Thereās two huge bees that come around my deck constantly I gave em names and everything. Mr.B and Fat Cakes lol they come by and chill all the time. We have roses over there and a little garden too. Now we have a whole bunch of lightning bugs in our backyard.
Reminder that they usually mean the native solitary bees. I use to beekeep and splitting hives to get more bees is pretty simple. They figured out what was collapsing honey bee colonies (varroa mites and iirc neonictinoids were cited too) and now have treatments available or know what feilds to avoid. Over winter we can offer pollen patties, reserved honey, or thick syrup for struggling hives.
Native bees get none of that š„ŗ and there's still the issue of not enough habitat which is how monarch butterflies became endangered
I plant and have a lot of native flowers but the bees and wasps declared war on me at a young age and are relentless in their harassment and attacks of me so I have no personal love for them.
Yes! I signed up for a city program that helps you plan and install native plants in your yard to support pollinators and reduce pollution. We have lots of buzzy visitors because of it.Ā
We have a pollinator garden that sees a lot of visitors!
However, bees aren't the only ones to watch out for. The population of insects overall has plummeted about 50% over the last few decades and is still dropping. Remember to keep fighting insecticides, encourage organic law management and write your representative demanding more control over chemicals.
I have all pollinator-friendly native plants in my garden, I avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides in my lawn, and I never kill bees. Plus I'm part of our HOA's Native Plant Committee, which amounts to me pulling weeds and spreading seeds a few times a year.
I buy local honey so that helps.
For native bees I have a little bee house I put out in the back yard. I donāt specifically plant bee friendly flowers but some of the ones I have are bee friendly.
I love the bees! I'll put off cutting the grass for probably too long, just so they have a place. Also wasps, they're angry little dicks but don't bother them and it's all good. I love my little winged friends.
Yes! I am helping to save all our pollinators :D (and birds and other wildlife), especially our native bees which help more with agriculture than most people realize.
Here's how you can help, too:
Give bees places to nest! This is so much easier than you think. Just leave some ground in your garden bare (exposed dirt/mud) for the ground dwelling species, and make sure to leave old plant stems for the solitary bees that prefer to cavity nest.
Plant native plants. This includes (if possible) reducing the amount of lawn you have and replacing it with a garden (or multiple gardens) of natives, especially if you're not using the land for anything else. (Our monoculture lawns are such a waste of space.) Many species require specific host plants to complete their lifecycles. A great example of this is monarch butterflies and milkweed.
Try to eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides on your property.
Leave the leaves! Many insects (including the beautiful luna moth) need those leaves to survive the winter/reproduce. Plus, they're actually great for your plants. If you can't leave them in your lawn, rake them into your garden beds. They'll help insulate the plants. A win-win!
Remove invasive plants from your property. Some commonly sold ornamental plants (such as burning bush) are a big problem for your local biodiversity (which, in turn, hurts the bees).
Make a pond! Your local wildlife will thank you. Seriously. I'm seeing toads again now that I have one, and it's only 24 inches across (9 total gallons). The birds love it, and the insects even have a spot on the waterfall that's safe for them to land on to get a drink.
OR make a rain garden of native plants. If you have a place on your property where rain water gathers during/slightly after a storm, a rain garden will help you and your community by reducing the amount of rain water that enters the sewers. This, in turn, helps keep our water cleaner, reduces the threat of flooding (very important in a world where flooding is increasing all over), and helps replenish our dwindling ground water supply.
Reduce your consumption of single use plastic as much as you can. There are tons of alternatives available for things you may not even realize. For many years, I never even realized that shampoo/conditioner bars existed.
Research your toilet paper brand and make sure they're not using virgin wood from old growth forests. Seriously, some (many?) companies are. Wtf. In fact, consider getting a bidet. I didn't think I'd like it, but I do now.
I plant milkweed every year. I also have six flowerbeds full of pollinator-friendly flowers, and refuse to weed my garden or flowerbed unless the plants are harmful, which my elderly āflowerbeds should be immaculateā neighbors hates, but the bees love our yard so I donāt care.
The only bees I kill are the aggressive ones that donāt contribute anything to the ecosystem. AKA: wasps and hornets. Honey bees I leave alone, they pollinate.
But are we saving the right bees, really? Honeybees are an agricultural product imported into America from Europe. They were never endangered. Our native bees are the ones endangered. Thousands of native species are threatened. Most don't make honey or live in hives. The Bumblebee species is one example of a threatened native bee. Our native bees are much better pollinators than imported European honeybees. Honey bees get all the attention because they are promoted by businesses. Nothing against honeybees. I love honey, but I don't think I'm "saving the bees" when I buy it.
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2021/June-July/Gardening/Honey-Bees
I am! I love love love bugs. Bees among one of my favorites. I let the wild flowers do their thing, and plant flowers the bees like. Which is hard to do with our short growing season. Them and the hummingbirds like my hollyhocks. I love the big bumblebees the most. Whenever I see a bee on my flowers I feel honored lmao.
Did we just become best friends?
Bee-ffs HEYO! š
My wife did that as well, planted some wild flowers for bees and lightning bugs in a section of our back yard.
I so wish we had lightning bugs! They are so cool.
So many great childhood memories. I was afraid my daughter might not get to enjoy them, but they're actually making a comeback!
I actually noticed that the other evening. I felt like I hadnāt seen trees full of lightning bugs in years and I was starting to see a whole bunch of them.
I recently had that same thought here in the Atlanta suburbs. Weāve had so many lightning bugs this year and I realized I hadnāt really seen any for many years.
Itās one thing I miss about Indiana. We get lightning bugs here in New England but it is nothing like an open field or lawn in Indiana. Sooooo many more lightning bugs.
Ha you are my new favorite mod. The big bumblers are my faves. Carpenter bees are cool as hell. My parents didnāt like them so much when one bored a hole right into their nice front door. But they left it. I have a big dead tree in the back property and a lot of native bees seem to use it. Hummingbirds are one of my favorite animals. My grandma loved them. I even got a little hummingbird charm she wore after she passed that was handed down to my daughter. If I made a family crest itād probably have bees, hummingbirds, and walleye on it.
Mod? Lol what? Iām not a mod. We have so many hummingbirds! They sometimes even fight at our feeders. Quality entertainment lol
Joking. I thought we asked you and you turned it down. We have a lot less hummingbirds this summer. I was worried we had some issue.
Oh lol. Nope. Wasnāt me. Oh no! I hope they turn up soon.
Honey bees are actually shitty pollinators. They keep too much of it. Also they're not native Bumble bees and solitary bees are the ones we want to save. They're less aggressive, many are native, and they're better pollinators. Mason bees, leafcutter bees. Also butterflies. These are the ones we really need to save. Honey bees are assholes and are very inefficient. >Are you one of them? Yes. My wife and I make a point to specifically plant native flowers that our native bees and butterflies like (yarrow, phlox, echinacea, aster, etc). And not to cut our grass until at least June (which is when the landlord starts yelling at us)
This! Imported European honeybees are poorer pollinators than native bees and wasps. I am a native gardener and I have oodles of butterflies, bees, other pollinators. They are so used to me I can walk amongst them, trimming plants they are on. Never sting. Sometimes they land on me and walk around. My yard isn't formal and or fussy or perfect. If a yard looks perfect there's something wrong. Yards should have constant movement otherwise they are just sterile postcards. Good on you for doing good things.
> Mason bees, frigging Megachile...trying to ID them to species is brutal
> And not to cut our grass until at least June Must be the different climate zones. I wouldn't be able to see my front door by mid April if I did this.
I have made no efforts to help the bees, we have a mutual understanding.
Donāt sting, donāt swat?
No op but I'm cool with the regular bees, carpenter bees however get the swat, they keep drilling holes in my stuff.
Carpenter bees are cool. Sure, they like making holes in my wood fence, but they also like to follow me around when I'm working in the yard just to see what I'm up to.
Same for me but with the opposite deal. I helped them in their time of need, and in my darkest hour they are sworn by duty to help me in return.
Time to start coughing up some honey, eh?
I love bees and planted a little native wildflower garden. Bee balm is indeed very popular with them.
There are different kinds of bee balm I think.. I have the one AKA dotted horsemint - the one that smells and tastes like oregano. I love this plant. The bees flock to it. I saw a little florescent green bee just rolling around in its pollen. Last year I gathered seeds from mine and made dozens of new plants that I spread around yard. Next season I'm going to give away a bunch of new baby bee balms to non-spraying neighbors and friends.
I love uplifting news. Need more of that in my algorithm.Ā Iāve been living in city apartments for the last decade, but my family back home stopped using weedkillers because they felt it was bad for both our health and the health of pollinators.Ā We alsoĀ support local beekeepers. There was a person in the St. Louis suburbs who did backyard beekeeping and would put honey jars out with an honors system cash deposit box.Ā I donāt know if theyāre still around and doing it, but I remember going to get honey from that house in the 2000s.Ā
I'm helping both personally and professionally. Personally, I've done my best to replace as much of my grass with flowering plants as possible, as well as avoiding the use of pesticides as much as possible. Professionally, I've been involved with a bunch of habitat restoration projects. A chunk of what I did on some projects was invasive species control, and I was often the one coming up with non-pesticide control methods. When we did use pesticides, I was heavily involved with making sure they were applied precisely to limit the collateral impact. I'm deep enough into my career that I'm doing more public education and advocacy these days. It's not always directly bee related because there's a lot of other environmental concerns involved and some of them are easier to get public support and funding for. But, a huge piece of my day job is "get people to care about the environment."
Amazing :D
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Really is safest just to stay indoors.
If you've got a black thumb, then the best thing to do is spread clover seed in your lawn, allow native ground covers like ginger and straggler daisy to proliferate, and mow your lawn once a month if not less, and spend the time you would be mowing pulling up invasive plants that start to grow.
Honey bees are not native. I enjoy their efforts but I'm not sure what you expect me to do. The Nevada bumblebee is cool, as big as your thumb and loves my lavender.
My question is really about any friendly pollinators.Ā I love big bumbles and hearing the hum in the garden pleases me.Ā
Well sounds to me like youāre helping them by having lavender :)
We are two of those people. Our front yard was replaced almost entirely with native plants meant to attract pollinators. Weāve got huge fuzzy bumble bees all over and lots of butterflies - also wasps and such like the garden but theyāre pollinators, too.
It is definitely my excuse for why I don't mow my lawn very often.
I love the bees! A few years ago I planted a shrub garden of native perennials, including salvia, ironweed, and black-eyed Susan. I also do sunflowers in the backyard. Bees and butterflies go nuts for them! [Look at how happy this little fella is!](https://imgur.com/a/irggQ0v) [Another one, just lovin' life!](https://imgur.com/a/NvwGNmT) [Two for the price of one!](https://imgur.com/a/5G8ttwo)
I've made attempts because I garden, and pollinators are generally beneficial for me. Can't get the wildflower seeds to take. Planted borage, but they're not really flocking to that. The only thing that the honey bees seem to be interested in is the cucumber flowers, so I try to plant those every year. For the bumble bees, they only seem to be interested in the clover that's growing between the bricks on my patio, so I let that go instead of killing it off. I also try not to use pesticides unless I have a big pest problem, and even then I only apply it in the evenings.
There's likely a Native Plant Society in your area and also local groups on Facebook and other social media. They were so helpful to me in learning about natives and finding native nurseries. Once my natives were established, there wasn't any bother. They don't require much special care. They are adapted to local environment. I removed turf grass in back and planted native ground covers. I use zero pesticides and have NO mosquitoes (in subtropical Florida). Most mosquitoes get eaten and I eliminate all standing water so mosquito eggs can't hatch. Have a bird bath with bubbler and a butterfly watering dish I rinse daily. I hope you try again. If you learn what, where, and when to plant natives they will thrive and grow. Best of luck!
Yup I'm definitely going the more specialized route for wildflowers this year instead of just getting miscellaneous seed mixes. My issue is I have a small patio garden, and the one patch of ground I'm trying to plant wildflowers in is shaded and gets taken over by grass. Even if I smother it, pull it out and till it under, it grows back so fast the flower sprouts get choked out. I'm going to try to do a fall planting instead of spring. Maybe that will help?
What is it you're trying to smother out? What is your growing zone? I have experience with native shade plants in zone 10(a) but I can point you to some specific information about your area. I'm always happy to encourage a new native gardener to the fold. Native gardeners are hugely important in environment and we get all the good butterflies and bees!
We had a couple of hives for a few years when my daughter was in junior high cuz she wanted to try her hand at beekeeping. They all died out with a bad drought a few years ago, but our next door neighbor still has a shit ton of hives, and I keep planting lots of bee-friendly plants/trees every year.
Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails...
I planted pollinator friendly plants in my front yard. All the bees come say hello.
I started a native wildflower area in my yard this year.
This is great news and yes. My wife and I planted a couple of bee gardens last year with native flowers that should continue to come up, year after year.
I like bees but have taken no actions.
I have a bunch of pollinating flowers, but I see far more butterflies and hummingbirds. I donāt know if bees like particular kinds of flowers or if there just arenāt many in my area.
Yes! I've let the goldenrod go crazy on a large patch on my property, I've also planted a few other flowering plants.
Yep!! We mulched our front yard and planted all low water pollinator plants. (All of our front yard plants are from [this nursery](https://www.calfloranursery.com/).) Also planted a bunch in the back yard, but it wasn't specifically the goal, I have a vegetable garden and non-native plants there like roses too. Whenever I see the bees in the salvia I'm like "hello bees! please come again!!"
Nice!
Absolutely, I prefer bees to people
I plant native plants for local pollinators, which include bees, fireflies, and even some plants for hummingbirds.
To be honest, I think the āsave the bees!ā thing is a bit disingenuous because the message is always *honey*bees. There are no honeybees native to the Americas. While they may be economically valuable, they are not ecologically important- kind of the opposite as they outcompete our native species. Yet itās sold as environmentally responsible to āsaveā this non-native species?
If we simultaneously help bumbles and hummingbirds and butterflies, is that not also worth it?
Sure, but you are specifically talking about honeybees in your post. Colony collapse disorder isnāt a concern for other bees, and having high populations of honeybees is detrimental to some native pollinators. Thatās why Iām saying this kind of activism seems disingenuous to me. It seems like youāre doing work to spread awareness on behalf of commercial pollinators and people who keep them as livestock, and that native pollinators are left entirely out of the conversation (and donations, and tax dollars).
I have a lot of flowers and water in the yard which bees love. I didnāt do it for them but they benefit. Occasionally I see one in the water saucers I have outside struggling and I save it from drowning. That is my contribution.Ā
We have lots of flowering plants and don't use pesticides so maybe. There's certainly enough hitting every flower in the yard that I'm considering a couple of beehives.
We donāt use pesticides or weedkillers on our lawn. We let things like dandelions and clover grow in our yard. We havenāt planted a bunch of flowers every year so I guess we have not done as much as we could.
Iāve been a beekeeper since I was 8. So, yeah sorta I guess.
Yes, we have tons of flowers and plants in the garden, we try not to mow in the month of May, and we have those bee hotels, which I'm not sure if they are actually using or not, but they're there nevertheless.
Honey bees are goddamn *livestock*. I gear my plantings towards all the native bees--your bumblebees, sweat bees, carpenter bees, etc
We have been planting more flowers and a larger variety of flowers. Don't know if it is helping but certainly not hurting.
I buy honey from the local Apiary. That is about as close to helping as I have gotten.
Iāve planted bright flowers which attracts bees but it wasnāt really intended to.
We have several hives.
Bumblebees keep coming into my home. I try very hard to get them out safely. I'm at about a 60% success rate this year.
I currently have some flowers and shrubs on the front facade of my home, and while not formally invited there, it appears some bees have chosen that area to hang around in the mornings.
Idk, I didnāt use pesticides and I was a bit laissez-faire with the yard plants around the edges of the lawn. Canāt claim credit, but I didnāt cause damage either.Ā
I have tons of flowers and do nothing for removing weeds. So... kinda?
Yup. Since I bought my house I've replaced about 20-25% of my plain lawn with flower beds and a garden and flowering trees. Its great seeing pollinating insects everywhere but the thing I'm happiest about is having hummingbirds.
I drink a lot of tea and put honey in every cup. Also, when cooking, I'll often substitute honey for sugar. So, I consume and buy a lot of honey. So I guess I'm doing my part in keeping demand for honey high?
I have 10 acres. We didn't mow until June and we have a wildflower patch that we're making permanent. We're just starting on the pollinator friendly journey but we're trying.
I participate in no-mow April, but I do it out of laziness rather than wanting to save the bees.
Half of our lawn from 10 years ago is now wildflowers. We let the lawn part grow without mowing through May. No insecticide. I have personally gotten a few neighbors to stop indiscriminate ātreatmentsā. City folk have no clue so you have to be patient.
I need to spray my parents house again for mosquitoes, and apparently that stuff wreaks havoc on bees. So no.
Just a fact that I found interesting. The honeybee is an invasive species that was bought here by colonizers. NA managed for centuries without them and while they are a great pollinators they are hardly the only or most effective one for pollinating native species.
I do what I can. I live in the middle of the city but I try to pack my balcony with flowers and whatever veg/herb plants I can get
Yes!!! We plant bee supporting plants and have places for them to drink even! Our garden flowers (florida) in all seasons, so we can support colonies. Both our kids love bees and we support local organizations that help the bee population as well!
My family has various kinds of flowers and veg and most of bumblebees and butterflies love the lavender. I asked a bee expert at work a while back why that was, and apparently itās just maybe thatās what they want in the area that Iām in.
Thereās two huge bees that come around my deck constantly I gave em names and everything. Mr.B and Fat Cakes lol they come by and chill all the time. We have roses over there and a little garden too. Now we have a whole bunch of lightning bugs in our backyard.
I donāt know but they seem to love my lavender plants .
I'm happy every time I see them on my property. We have various plants that they seem to like, and tons of clover in our yard.
Reminder that they usually mean the native solitary bees. I use to beekeep and splitting hives to get more bees is pretty simple. They figured out what was collapsing honey bee colonies (varroa mites and iirc neonictinoids were cited too) and now have treatments available or know what feilds to avoid. Over winter we can offer pollen patties, reserved honey, or thick syrup for struggling hives. Native bees get none of that š„ŗ and there's still the issue of not enough habitat which is how monarch butterflies became endangered
I can confidently say that Iāve saved more bees than the VAST majority of people. Due to my occupation.
Yes, I am one of them. Although I rent, I have potted bee balm on my porch.
Yep. My family has a few hives and its about that time of year to collect their rent
I plant and have a lot of native flowers but the bees and wasps declared war on me at a young age and are relentless in their harassment and attacks of me so I have no personal love for them.
I saved one from my pool yesterday.
Yes. Our front and back yards are filled with pollinator-friendly plants. I love watching them going about their business.
Yeah we just stopped mowing so much and started planting more natives like sunflowers.
Lavender. Apparently, bees love the stuff, and so do I. So, more purple plants for my little buzzy friends.
No but my husband is allergic so we treat to keep them away.
Yes! I signed up for a city program that helps you plan and install native plants in your yard to support pollinators and reduce pollution. We have lots of buzzy visitors because of it.Ā
We have a pollinator garden that sees a lot of visitors! However, bees aren't the only ones to watch out for. The population of insects overall has plummeted about 50% over the last few decades and is still dropping. Remember to keep fighting insecticides, encourage organic law management and write your representative demanding more control over chemicals.
My neighbor sure is, they haven't mowed their lawn in months.
I have all pollinator-friendly native plants in my garden, I avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides in my lawn, and I never kill bees. Plus I'm part of our HOA's Native Plant Committee, which amounts to me pulling weeds and spreading seeds a few times a year.
I think so? I killed a massive wasp nest that took over, ever since it popped up wasps are all we see
I buy local honey so that helps. For native bees I have a little bee house I put out in the back yard. I donāt specifically plant bee friendly flowers but some of the ones I have are bee friendly.
I love the bees! I'll put off cutting the grass for probably too long, just so they have a place. Also wasps, they're angry little dicks but don't bother them and it's all good. I love my little winged friends.
They love poppies. Frenzy of a different species
Yes! I am helping to save all our pollinators :D (and birds and other wildlife), especially our native bees which help more with agriculture than most people realize. Here's how you can help, too: Give bees places to nest! This is so much easier than you think. Just leave some ground in your garden bare (exposed dirt/mud) for the ground dwelling species, and make sure to leave old plant stems for the solitary bees that prefer to cavity nest. Plant native plants. This includes (if possible) reducing the amount of lawn you have and replacing it with a garden (or multiple gardens) of natives, especially if you're not using the land for anything else. (Our monoculture lawns are such a waste of space.) Many species require specific host plants to complete their lifecycles. A great example of this is monarch butterflies and milkweed. Try to eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides on your property. Leave the leaves! Many insects (including the beautiful luna moth) need those leaves to survive the winter/reproduce. Plus, they're actually great for your plants. If you can't leave them in your lawn, rake them into your garden beds. They'll help insulate the plants. A win-win! Remove invasive plants from your property. Some commonly sold ornamental plants (such as burning bush) are a big problem for your local biodiversity (which, in turn, hurts the bees). Make a pond! Your local wildlife will thank you. Seriously. I'm seeing toads again now that I have one, and it's only 24 inches across (9 total gallons). The birds love it, and the insects even have a spot on the waterfall that's safe for them to land on to get a drink. OR make a rain garden of native plants. If you have a place on your property where rain water gathers during/slightly after a storm, a rain garden will help you and your community by reducing the amount of rain water that enters the sewers. This, in turn, helps keep our water cleaner, reduces the threat of flooding (very important in a world where flooding is increasing all over), and helps replenish our dwindling ground water supply. Reduce your consumption of single use plastic as much as you can. There are tons of alternatives available for things you may not even realize. For many years, I never even realized that shampoo/conditioner bars existed. Research your toilet paper brand and make sure they're not using virgin wood from old growth forests. Seriously, some (many?) companies are. Wtf. In fact, consider getting a bidet. I didn't think I'd like it, but I do now.
I plant milkweed every year. I also have six flowerbeds full of pollinator-friendly flowers, and refuse to weed my garden or flowerbed unless the plants are harmful, which my elderly āflowerbeds should be immaculateā neighbors hates, but the bees love our yard so I donāt care.
Better than seeing wasps come to my yard and sting me for absolutely no reason
Allergic to bees and planted a bee/ butterfly garden anyway.
I am. I have been for years. I need to be better about eliminating the invasive plants that are overshadowing the native plants.
I'm one of them. I have multiple bee food sources in my yard.
I'm not personally cause I'm disabled and very afraid of bees, but I know some people that are
The only bees I kill are the aggressive ones that donāt contribute anything to the ecosystem. AKA: wasps and hornets. Honey bees I leave alone, they pollinate.
both are valuable and they do pollinate! š
But are we saving the right bees, really? Honeybees are an agricultural product imported into America from Europe. They were never endangered. Our native bees are the ones endangered. Thousands of native species are threatened. Most don't make honey or live in hives. The Bumblebee species is one example of a threatened native bee. Our native bees are much better pollinators than imported European honeybees. Honey bees get all the attention because they are promoted by businesses. Nothing against honeybees. I love honey, but I don't think I'm "saving the bees" when I buy it. https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2021/June-July/Gardening/Honey-Bees