Protect Your Pollinators
(Page 4 of 7)
The diversity of native bees matches the diversity of
native plants. With the help of his camera, David Gordon, a
professor of zoology at Pittsburg State University in
Kansas, has seen that some native bees have long tongues,
so they can lap nectar from tubular flowers while others
have shorter tongues more suited to flat blossoms. Native
bees also vary in size from half-inch iridescent sweat bees
to 1½-inch carpenter bees. Tiny bees can access the
littlest flowers for pollination purposes while bigger bees
buzz blossoms, tramping pollen from place to place with
their feet, and sometimes accidentally improving
pollination by chasing honeybees across the faces of
sunflowers and other big-blossomed plants.
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Enhancing Habitat
Native bees seldom travel more than a quarter mile from
their nests, so improving bee habitat can have a very
direct benefit in your garden. The Xerces Society, a
nonprofit insect preservation group based in Portland,
Ore., suggests several simple ways to make your property
more hospitable to native bees:
• Minimize the use of pesticides and avoid
spraying botanical or biological insecticides in the
morning, when native bees are most active.
• Grow a diverse selection of flowering plants
(including as many native species as possible).
• Grow crops such as squash, sunflowers, blueberries
and strawberries every year to maintain resident
populations of the specialist bees that serve them.
• Leave some areas uncultivated so you don’t
disturb bees that nest in the ground.
The same plants that attract butterflies and beneficial
insects often attract native bees; both insect groups are
most numerous where plants bloom over a long season. For
example, early spring-blooming willows and redbuds can be
followed by fruit trees, brambles and red clover before
your summer vegetables and flowers take over as primary
host plants. Then keep the pollen flowing into fall by
growing late-blooming asters and allowing goldenrod to
flourish along fence rows.
With a solid food supply nailed down, you can further
encourage native bees by providing attractive nesting
sites. For ground-nesting bees, a patch of uncultivated,
well-drained soil that gets morning sun will work well as
long as you avoid disturbing it with vehicles and tractors.
You also can make a sand pile or sand pit — or simply
fill a planter with sand and place it on a warm,
south-facing slope. If you see bumblebees buzzing around
the roots of a tree, leave them alone. They probably have
established a colony in a burrow vacated by mice or voles.
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