The Value of Bees

Honey bees provide an invaluable service to nature and, of course, their honey is wonderful. Bees in general provide this service (as well as flies that visit flowers and other creatures, such as bats). What is it? Pollination of plants. You likely know that the structures like hairs on bees pick up pollen when they visit flowers and transfer it to other individuals of the same plant species, thus fertilizing the female reproductive parts of these plants. Results are fruits and seeds. This relationship has developed over time. Without this service, many plants without wind blown pollen or that are not self-pollinated would not survive. The honeybee, and perhaps other native bee species, have been declining in numbers. This should not be of concern only to the beekeeper. It should concern all of us. Thus, consider placing plants whose flowers attract honeybees in your yard.

Of course, some precautions are in order. If your child walks around the yard in bare feet, you may not wish to plant low lying flowers that attract bees in a likely location where those little feet may step. Likewise, this may not be a smart thing to do if you or a family member is allergic to bee stings. However, many of us do not share these concerns. For those that may be afraid of bees, just be careful when you are around them. How many times have you actually been stung by a bee?

I mentioned in an earlier post that butterflies are attracted more to asters that have more disk flowers (that is, the center portion of the flower is relatively large). This is because these disk flowers produce the nectar attractive to the butterflies. Likewise, for the same reason, these flowers also attract the bees and flies that will end up pollinating plants. Plants like clovers have an infloresence (this is the biological term for the group of flowers on a plant) that is all disk flowers. Many people prefer the taste of honey bees make from feeding on clovers. These plants attract pollinators. Clovers are also good for your soil because they fix nitrogen and add it to the soil- natural fertilizer. There are native clovers in most areas and you can easily collect seed by removing the mature flower head of a small portion of the plants in an area and planting the entire head.

If you watch you can learn which plants attract these pollinators. Achillea is one that I quickly learned attracts a number of them. Some of the herbs are very attractive also. Lavender and verbenas are good choices.

In the next post I discuss an important aspect of the choice of plants to attract butterflies and bees to your yard- providing species with different flowering times.