Create a buzz and protect our pollinators in your plot this summer with nectar-rich plants
Transform your beds and borders into bee-friendly havens this year. You don’t need acres of wildflower meadows – a patio or window box and some ordinary garden plants will do.
Bees need food, water and shelter to survive. They love plants that are rich in nectar (carbs) and pollen (protein). Happily, bee-friendly plants are trees, shrubs, herbs, fruit and veg and bulbs are easy to come by.
So why do we need to encourage bees? Bees are in trouble –their numbers have plummeted, with 13 species already extinct, and 35 endangered, through habitat loss from urbanisation, intensive farming and pesticide use. Bees pollinate 75% of our crops, so we depend on them for our food. The good news is, our gardens are potential bee oases, so we can all do lots to help these fuzzy-footed pollinators.
Feed the bees
Keep bees supplied with food from spring to winter by growing the nectar and pollen-rich plants that bees love. In late winter, ivy and mahonia flowers provide pollen for overwintering queen bumblebees and carder bees. In spring, apple blossoms feed mason bees. Abelia, known as the bee bush, attracts honeybees in autumn.
Choose wisely
When you’re plant shopping, look for the RHS ‘Plants for Pollinators’ symbol for bee-friendly blooms. Bees prefer single flowers, like daisies, to doubles, for easy access to nectar. But different bees have different mouth sizes, so plant other flower shapes, too, to ensure they are all catered for. Foxgloves are great, as is lavender, honeysuckle and sedum.
Mow less
Be more relaxed about your lawn. Let the grass grow a little longer from April to September, so bees can nest and feed in it. Avoid using lawn fertilisers, allowing lawn weeds like daisies, speedwell and clover which attract bees, to self-seed, saving you money and prettying up your patch.
Chuck out chemicals
Give bee-harming pesticides a swerve. If you spot aphids on your roses, remove them by hand or with a strong jet of water from a hose. Try organic methods for treating unwanted critters, like soft soap spray. Plant trees and shrubs with berries to encourage birds, so they eat the pests as well.
Give them shelter
Provide bee shelters in your garden: honeybees have their hives, but mos
