What Do You Need In A Bee Friendly Garden 

How do you enjoy your honey?

Do you pour it on a fresh bowl of fruit?

Do you mix it into a sauce and toss it on your wings?

Or maybe you're a rebel that drizzles honey on pancakes instead of syrup.

In any scenario, bees are to thank for your culinary quirks.

Want to know how these joys of life can be taken away for good?

….If bees become extinct.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity and the Bombus Pollinators Association of Law Students, in the past 20 years, the American Bumblebee has disappeared entirely from eight states. Most of the damage is caused by climate change. However, all is not lost – and no, bee farms and local beekeepers are not the only ones that can do something about this, you can too! If you thrive outdoors and enjoy gardening, here are four ways you can create a bee-friendly garden.

Grow a variety of spring and fall-blooming plants

When bees hideaway during the wintertime, they return when the hint of warm weather hits and begin their process of searching for food and nutrients. The fresh nectar from blooming spring flowers is a high priority for bees, not just for the honey but to fulfill the other aspects of the ecosystem.

Choose plants that attract bees

Planting native wildflowers, flowering herbs, berries, or, fruit trees is a grade-A way to create a garden that bees will love. When you have bee-friendly plants, you'll play an important role in the production of raw, local honey when the bees are happy!

Embrace the weeds

A well-manicured garden may be ideal, but consider letting-bee those dandelions, clovers, and milkweed as they are vital for the bees' survival. You can tell by now that anything that helps the bees is excellent for every other part of nature, given the bees' accelerating decline. Turn this into a game. Take the dandelions growing in the yard and blow the seeds to create a space for your bees to thrive.

DO NOT USE CHEMICALS

If the goal is to make your garden appealing and nourishing to bees, then using many chemicals promoted in lawn and garden care is out of the question. Eliminate them if you can, and if you must use them, read the labels for ingredients that are harmful to bees. Then, when using your well-researched pesticides, spray them at night when bees and other pollinators are not active. Be careful because even those that may look harmless will cause unnecessary harm to growing bee communities in the garden when sprayed in large quantities.

Consider supporting your local beekeepers and sellers of raw, local honey as everything works in tandem. It allows beekeepers to continue cultivating their farms and nurturing the bee colonies to create environments where pollinator populations can thrive. Your garden will buzz with excitement and flourish when those bees keep the life cycle going!