How do you attract bees to your garden?

[ChilliGirl]

We all know the benefits of having bees and other pollinators come into our gardens and do their magic on our plants. Do you plant anything specific in order to attract them?

I was listening to a particular gardening program on the radio some time ago, and the advice the panel gave was to plant lavender and scarlet runner beans as a means of attracting the bees more regularly and consistently into your garden. I have loads of lavender in my garden, and I also plant scarlet runner beans every year, as these are my absolute favorites variety of bean.

I think the thing that made me really notice the difference in the amount of bees I was getting was a little wild flower patch I created. I bought the wild flower seeds as one collection that you just scatter on your patch and wait for them to grow. I also bought one of those little teeny tiny bee houses that you fasten to a post, and it's supposed to provide a little resting hole for the bees. The wild flowers all look lovely, and there's always a bunch of bees buzzing around in it. I haven't seen any of them go into the little house yet, but I'll keep an eye on it. My father in law has one and he found an a little colony of bees inside his when he looked recently.

 

[claudine]

I don't do anything special, I just plant as many flowering plants as I can. Bees in my area aren't picky at all and they seem to like all flowers They especially love my apple tree. When it's in bloom, most of them fly around it. They make a lot of noise

 

[MindyT]

I know bees are great for the garden, but they scare me. I don't want to attract them. That's crazy in my book. They can ALL come to your garden instead of mine! I will even pack their bags!

 

[Trellum]

They always come when they see there are enough flowers growing in my garden. Leaving some water in small containers never failed us either in the past, but lately we haven't really seen a lot bees. They always came here looking for water mostly, but now it seems most of them are done. They also felt attracted to sweet things (my grandma added some sugar to some of those water containers).

 

[ChilliGirl]

They always come when they see there are enough flowers growing in my garden. Leaving some water in small containers never failed us either in the past, but lately we haven't really seen a lot bees. They always came here looking for water mostly, but now it seems most of them are done. They also felt attracted to sweet things (my grandma added some sugar to some of those water containers).

That's really interesting - I never knew about leaving water for them, or sweetening it either - I must try that next spring/summer as I think they're just about done for this season.

You're not the only one to say you haven't seen a lot of bees lately - the decline in population is quite worrying.

I know bees are great for the garden, but they scare me. I don't want to attract them. That's crazy in my book. They can ALL come to your garden instead of mine! I will even pack their bags!

I totally understand about being afraid of bees - I used to be afraid of them, but when I learned how beneficial they are, and the fact that they don't sting so easily, then I stopped worrying so much. I still get out of their way when I see one coming though! The things that realy bother me are wasps - I will go bonkers if I see one, and they don't go away as easily as bees do. On saying that, I haven't seen very many wasps at all this season, so I've enjoyed my gardening time even more this year.

 

[headfullofbees]

Bees seem to love my blackcurrant, sage, oregano, chives and thyme, when they're in flower, and stay for tomato, strawberry raspberry.

 

[Pat]

I haven't seen alot of bees around either. We have carpenter bees on the deck that we have to have a pest person come out and get rid of because they attack your head, just fly around you making noise and they are so large and they are destroying the deck, those really are the only bees I have seen for some time. I see more wasp than bees around.

 

[claudine]

They always come when they see there are enough flowers growing in my garden. Leaving some water in small containers never failed us either in the past, but lately we haven't really seen a lot bees. They always came here looking for water mostly, but now it seems most of them are done. They also felt attracted to sweet things (my grandma added some sugar to some of those water containers).

For some reason I never thought of leaving water for bees. It sounds like a great idea! I will give it a try. Those little creatures must be thirsty. They're so active and always very busy

 

[Trellum]

Hihihihi, yeah They always came here for some water, I saw the close to the faucet and sometimes even taking a sip from the dog's water bowl :O Same with wasps tho! The wasps did the same, but strangely enough I haven't seen either of those hanging around. Yes, try it and let me know how it goes

 

[Carolyn]

I planted a patch of wildflowers in the middle of my garden last year and it was beautiful. I had bees and butterflies everywhere. I think a flower bed nearby helps a lot if you don't have many bees. I have a lot of clover in my yard and I think that helps too. Not using Weed and Feed type of products on the lawn will encourage the bees to stay around.

 

[claudine]

Hihihihi, yeah They always came here for some water, I saw the close to the faucet and sometimes even taking a sip from the dog's water bowl :O Same with wasps tho! The wasps did the same, but strangely enough I haven't seen either of those hanging around. Yes, try it and let me know how it goes

I'll have to put water for bees somewhere where my dog can't reach. I'm sure he would try to catch them if he could. He thinks that all insects are his toys and he loves playing with them
As for wasps, I hate them. I've always been scared of them. I hope they won't steal my bees' water

 

[Trellum]

Tell me about it! A bumblebee stung me when I was 5, and wasps stung my mom's dog several times in the past, because well, they were always hanging around the water bowl, ugh! Nasty critters! I know wasps have a function, but they are nasty I once saw a wasp in a tree eating a butterfly I know wasps kill bad bugs tho, but I really don't like them. I prefer bees Because bees are waaaay more useful and less crazy

 

[claudine]

I prefer bees too. They're so cute
When I was a child, a nasty wasp had hidden in my pillows. When I went to bed, it stung me three times! It was really awful and very painful. I remember I was terrified. I don't want any wasps neither in my home nor in my garden.

 

[sthrngypsy]

I have planted bee balm before but it died. Not sure if it would have died anyway but I went out of town during a drought. I came back and the bee balm was one of the casualties. Yall don't seem to do anything specific to attract them though so maybe I don't need to plant the bee balm.