Originally published August 17, 2024 in the Yakima Herald-Republic. Minor edits have been made for web publication and accessibility.
by Don Flyct
When friends stop by, they typically ask to see my garden. Imagine their confusion when I tell them I don’t have a garden, but I do have a bee habitat. Under questioning, I’ll admit to having a small garden with a few vegetables. Where my garden could be is instead an area that provides shelter and food for bees.
Bees face a number of threats to their survival. What we plant will make a significant impact on their ability to survive.
Honeybees are the world’s most famous insect. They are cute, abundant, and easy to recognize. An essential part of modern agriculture, they are managed like farm animals to produce honey and pollinate crops.
The honeybee is a single bee species that was introduced to North America from Europe in the 17th century. By comparison there are roughly 4,000 native bee species in the United States. Much is known about honeybees, but there is still much to learn about native bees. About 90% of our native bees are solitary, meaning the female constructs and provisions her nest without any help. The other species are social bees and live in colonies and share the workload. Native bees are generally non-aggressive and even stingless, calmly going about their important pollinating work.
Native bees face the same threats as the honeybee, but they do not have the vast resources of the agriculture industry to help them. Instead, they depend on home gardeners to step up and help.
Nesting Sites
If you are a fan of Winnie the Pooh, you might think that bees live in hives that dangle from tree branches. In fact, 70% of native bees nest in holes in the ground that are dug by a single female bee. Bees that don’t nest in the ground choose pre-existing holes in hollowed out twigs, pock-marks in rocks, and abandoned beetle or rodent burrows.
Providing nesting sites in your garden is simple, and may even be considered lazy by some gardeners’ standards. Allow grasses to grow tall, and include ornamental bunch grasses in your landscape. Delay spring clean-up to give Ame for bees to emerge. Keep a messy garden and maintain a layer of leaf litter over the winter. Include shrubs with pithy or hollow stems such as elderberry, raspberry, blackberry or sumac. Provide a nearby source of water and mud.
Food
Native bees and flowers have evolved together over millions of years. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship where bees get pollen and nectar from the plant and the plant gets pollinated. Over time, plants developed flowers that attract certain bees and bees adapted features to effectively carry pollen.
Environmental cues signal plants when it’s time to bloom. Bees use these cues to tell them it’s time to emerge. Climate change is upsetting this delicate balance with increasing temperatures, drought, and extreme weather events. It is not known how plants and bees will respond to changing and unreliable environmental clues.
To allow for the uncertainties of climate change, it is critical to provide native bees with a reliable source of pollen and nectar from early spring until late fall. A good goal is to have three species of pollinator friendly flowers available throughout this period.
A good place to start is with native plants that are compatible with the conditions of your garden. It will likely be necessary to supplement with non-native species to achieve the necessary blooming period. When selecting plants, resist the temptation to judge a plant by the number of honey bees it attracts. A flower that attracts numerous honey bees may not be attractive to native bees, or the native bees cannot compete with the honeybees.
Habitat Design
A wide variety of native trees and shrubs is the cornerstone of my bee habitat. By planting a wide variety, including some that will reliably provide a source of food in early spring, a critical period for native bees.
The shrubs include Western serviceberry, Red-osier Dogwood, Mock Orange, Smooth Sumac, Golden Currant, and Nootka Rose. The trees include Quaking aspen, Cascade mountain ash, Vine maple and Oregon white oak.
Black Hawthorn is frequently recommended as a tree for native pollinators. Unfortunately, this is a host tree for the destructive apple maggot. If grown in our valley, it must be grown responsibly to prevent the spread of this insect to commercial orchards.
A wide variety of mid-season native and non-native flowering plants are available. Two of the best are raspberries and lavender.
I find providing an abundance of late blooming native flowers a significant challenge. Until I find a better solution, my habitat relies on heirloom sunflowers, buckwheat and clover. Late planting of sunflowers and buckwheat provides late season flowers. By timing the mowing of red and white clover, blossoms are available until the first frost.
Several years into this bee habitat project, I am convinced native bees are in desperate need of help, and gardeners can make a difference.