Pollinator Friendly Gardening by Rhonda Fleming Hayes

Author:Rhonda Fleming Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2016-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

Just as you wouldn’t want a lengthy commute from your home to the grocery store when your family is hungry and waiting for dinner, neither do bees. Bees need to nest close to where they forage. Unlike other pollinators, bees may be lugging a heavy load of pollen and/or nectar between flowers and their brood cells, so they calculate the distance carefully, and so should you in your garden plans.

Flight range is a major consideration when planting flowers in relation to potential nesting sites. While honeybees travel an average of two miles between their food source and hive, native bees cover much shorter distances in their daily outings depending upon their size. Bumblebees and a few other larger bees may be able to travel a mile, but smaller species can be limited to distances around 500 feet or less. The less energy spent between forage and nest, the better for the bee.

For an average-sized yard, the distance between food and nest may not be an issue. In larger, suburban yards, there may be an opportunity for several nest sites to correspond with different forage areas. It’s more about locating an area where you don’t mind bees raising their young.

If you’re ready to forego a few yards of mulch and expose some soil, there are a few considerations. Ground-nesting bees in general will gravitate to looser sandy or loamy soils since they are easier to excavate. Some species nest on flat ground while others prefer east- or south-facing slopes that warm first early in the day and early in the season. Deeply shaded spots aren’t the best candidates. Avoid spots that tend to stay continually wet as well, although some tunnel nesting bees will seek out damp soil for sealing brood cells. Are there wilder edges around the garden or an area at the back where no one will mind occasional mud? The bare soil under evergreen trees where nothing grows may seem like wasted space but bees like the umbrella-like protection afforded by the low-hanging branches. The easiest solution may be to allow an area behind shrubs or at the back of the perennial garden to go undressed. If you’re worried about aesthetics, taller perennials and shrubs can screen the holes where plants are absent. Strategically placed garden art can always draw the eye up and away from the area as well.

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