Bee Friendly Plants
It isn’t difficult to make your backyard, vegetable garden or even patio space a haven for beneficial bees. You’ll be helping these important insects, as well as bringing a little nature to your back door.
Honey Bees collect pollen and nectar from plant flowers as their source of food. When you attract bees to your backyard you also improve the bees’ quality of life you by planting a variety of plants bees just love. Think about it in terms of food, to have a strong and healthy immune system, we need variety in our diets - so do bees.
Remember, the more bees you attract, the more your garden will grow, since so many vegetables and flowers require pollination. In Australia we are so lucky to have so many native and non native plants - Bees can forage almost all year round.
BUYING PLANTS FOR BEES
These days, pesticides may be used in the cultivation of bulbs and plants by the horticulture industry. Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides, and are a subject of much controversy. These pesticides persist in soil, and are not easily degraded.
In order to make sure, avoid any possibility or risk that of unwittingly poisoning the bees or pollute our garden soil with any pesticide contaminating plants, take the following precautions:
- Buy organic, or
- Swap with friends and relatives with similar views, or
- Buy them from a local farmers’ market, where we are fortunate to have a plant stall owned by a hobby gardener
- Purchase from a local nursery you trust
We also have some Bee Friendly Seed Packs available from our Online Store
Here are just a few to mention:
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Herbs
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Fruits & Veggies
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Perennials/Shrubs
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Annuals
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Spring Corms & Bulbs
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Summer Corns & Bulbs
Winter Flower Bulbs
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Trees
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