There is a growing interest in promoting both honeybees and native bees in backyards throughout Georgia. One way that you can enhance both the number and diversity of bees in your backyard is to provide them with plants that provide these important pollinators with food.
Here is a list of ten plants favored by bees. They help provide food for bees from spring into fall. These special plants are blueberry, redbud, beebalm, blanket flower, black-eyed susan, milkweed, goldenrod, horsemint, blazing star (liatris) and fleabane.
All of these plants are growing in my yard. How many are growing in your yard?
Since honeybees are considered an agricultural animal they have a lot protection from the FDA trying to protect them is like protecting chickens and cows. Native bees however are VERY different and essential since some native bees can do buzz pollination that honey bees can’t do. That means that things like tomatoes, and blueberries cannot be pollinated by honey bees. Xerces Society has a lot of great free information and webinar if you want to learn more about the difference between the two animals.
Diane,
Thank you for your comments. A friend of mine did some of ground-breaking work on the native blueberry bee and its importance to the blueberry industry.
You make some excellent points that should be made available to others. I know I will do my part to disseminate them.
I’m curious if others run into buying flowers from big box stores that bees, moths and butterflies ignore. Can they be hybrid with no nectar? Can flowers be trusted. My 4th year of experience with this
Kathy,
You are not imagining that insects avoid them. In many cases it is due to the nursery stock being treated with systemic insecticides the go throughout the plant, its flowers, pollen nectar. Also, the ability to produce nectar and pollen is either reduced in with hybridization to enhance the size and or beauty of the plant.
We have several, but not all that you mentioned. In addition, we have maypops, which the bees love. The problem is, the deer also love the maypops. 🙁
We too have maypops in the yard. There are so many plants I could have mentioned, I simply picked some of my favorites. As for deer, more and more often folks are telling me to let them know which plants deer are resistant. They are a real problem in many areas.