1. Planting for Bees and Other Pollinators in Your Garden
Judy Webb
All photos ©
Judy Webb
unless
otherwise indicated

2. Bees and pollination Honey bees – one species Apis mellifera2
Bees and pollination
Honey bees – one species Apis mellifera
Bumble bees - 24 species, including 6 cuckoo bees. Some extinct, some very rare
Solitary bees – more than 250 species, including nomad cuckoo bees (look like wasps)
Most Bees have branched hairs on their bodies to facilitate pollen collection. Honey and bumble bees load pollen into ‘baskets’ on back legs, solitaries carry pollen all over or in hairy ‘brushes’
Solitary bees are thus more effective pollinators than honeybees or bumble bees
National declines in all sorts of bees due to numerous factors .. ……habitat loss, neonicotinoid (‘neonic’ ) insecticides, bee diseases, parasites (Varroa mite)

3. Bees or Not Bees? (flies)3
Photo above © Chris Spilling
A recent study found 67% of pollination was by flies, not bees/moths/butterflies/beetles

4. Basics first - a bee’s needs? FOOD, a HOME & WARMTH4
Food – nectar (energy source) and pollen (protein source). Any pollen is acceptable.
Pollen – protein and lipids (fats) from the cytoplasm of the cell needed for growth & repair
Nectar - (sugars fructose, glucose and sucrose) = FUEL A honey bee uses 10mg of sugar per hour in flight (161 joules in a honey bee of 0.1g weight)
A bumble bee is heavier at 0.5g - needs 5x as much energy joules per hour of flight
A cold bee has to warm up in order to fly
Raising temp. from 13.5 C to 38 C needs 31.5 joules (equivalent of 3 mins flying time wasted)
Only 0.05mg sugar per floret in red clover. Massed or close together flowers preferred.
Warmth
‘Grounded’ bumble queen in road - too cold to fly, 20th Mar

5. To help bees in your garden, plant5
To help bees in your garden, plant
The ‘right sort of flowers’
In warm sunny borders
Not too far from suitable nest sites

6. Homes for bees 6 Nice pile of sandy earth for mining bees
Cut end of hollow stems for leaf cutters and mason bees

7. Double Flowers = NO bee food at all!
Double flowering cherry ‘Kanzan’
Double hollyhock 7

8. What type of flowers FOR bees?8
Zygomorphic - bilaterally symmetrical - likely to be specially adapted to bees, eg white dead nettle, yellow archangel, toadflax
Radially symmetrical, attract generalists, likely to benefit more than bees – flies, butterflies, moths & beetles like common daisy.
Best flower families for bees: Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Lamiaceae, Boraginaceae, Campanulaceae, Asteraceae, Dipsacaceae, Apiaceae

9. Flowers to support newly emerged queen bumble bees in spring
Bombus terrestris queen, January 9
Early: Lungwort, mahonia, berberis, crocus, male sallow (pussy willow), fritillary, red deadnettle, dandelion, coltsfoot, flowering currant, cherry plum, winter fl. heathers e.g. E. carnea, celandine. ?? Daphnes ?Violets (solitary bees) primrose. Later: bluebell (British please!), white dead nettle, green alkanet, comfrey, ground ivy, bugle, buttercups, cowslip.

10. More SPRING FLOWERS and BEES
Hairy-footed flower bee Anthophora plumipes. Loves spring flowers like lungwort, Pulmonaria sp. It is a solitary bee that looks like a bumble, but is annual.
Corsican hellebore Helleborus argutifolius and honey bees 10
Honey bee on winter flowering heather

11. Garden Asteraceae for bees11
Silver-leaved daisy type
Inula
All types of thistles
Echinops
sunflower

12. The herb garden – brilliant for bees!12
Thyme
Sage
Marjoram
Fennel
Chives
Borage
Mint
Savory
Hyssop
Rosemary
Lavender

13. My spring and summer essentials13
My spring and summer essentials

14. Garden shrubs for bees? 14 Dogwood Cornus sp.
Olearia sp. NZ Daisy bush
Cherry laurel, but gives dense shade – better a small one ‘Otto Lyuken’
Escallonia
Lavender
Viburnum
Broom
Winter honeysuckle Lonicera,
short-tubed flowers.

15. Some Excellent Trees for Bees15
Silver pear, ornamental apple Malus , as well
Red horse chestnut Aesculus carnea
Single wild cherry
Any lime – small leaved, large leaved, silver, Caucasian….
Sweet chestnut
Sorbus sp – rowan or service trees

16. A Bee-friendly hedge? 16
In sun at base of best hedge: bramble, white & red deadnettle, black horehound, betony, dandelion
Hawthorn, blackthorn, apple, spindle, buckthorn….

17. A Bee friendly lawn? – put weedkiller and fertilizer away!17
A Bee friendly lawn? – put weedkiller and fertilizer away!