I’m a few days late to celebrate ‘World Bee Day’, but I will anyway because I think every day should be a bee day. (It was actually this lovely bee portrait by Steve Gingold that alerted me to the significance of Thursday 20th May.)
World Bee Day was launched by the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association and has been supported by beekeepers worldwide. There’s a website for World Bee Day that tells you all about the importance of bees and the essential role they play in the production of our food.
I think we’ve all become more aware of how much we need bees and that we need to do what we can to help them. There are some good books and websites to advise on planting ideas if you have somewhere to grow flowers for nectar and pollen. It doesn’t need to be a garden, pots on a balcony or window boxes can help. And the flowers in my images below (zinnia, scabious, salvias, and a perennial sunflower) are all very easy to grow.
If you’re in the UK, Dave Goulson’s ‘Gardening for Bumblebees’ is very good, for both planting suggestions and information on the lives of bees. But if you’re in the US, you’ll probably find that ‘Pollinator Friendly Gardening’ by Rhonda Fleming Hayes is more useful. (I thought it looked very interesting and would have bought it if it had been relevant to the bees and native plants here. You do need to read something based on your own area to get the correct information for where you live.)
Websites by local wildlife trusts are also likely to tell you what flowers are good to plant in your area. For the UK, I’ve found the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has an excellent site with lots of information about gardening for bees, identifying the different bumblebee species, and the lifecycles and habitats of bumblebees. I like the site set up by the UK Wildlife Trusts too – they have a good section on bees. (I would suggest checking out your nearest wildlife trust or organisation if you live outside the UK.)
I have a lot to do still in my own garden to make it really useful to bees for as much of the year as possible. It feels like something very worthwhile that I can do to help increase the numbers of bees around. And if most gardeners plant what they can for bees, while also avoiding the use of pesticides, we will together make a big difference.
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 
Your lead photo is sure lovely! My dad was a keen beekeeper so we always had jars of honey in the cupboard and seasonally we had honey-in-the-comb. I was the only one to eat comb though as my parents both had false teeth! 🙂
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Thanks Liz! It must have been very interesting to have your own bees. 🙂 We get mostly buff-tailed bumblebees and honeybees here (also some red tailed bumblebees and common carder bees). Borage has been seeding itself around the garden for the last few years and it is perhaps the most popular plant with the honeybees. Sadly, the miserable, windy weather seems to have put our buzzy little visitors off for the moment. Hope they come back with the sun!
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Great bee photos.
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Thanks Jude!
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Awesome pictures. Ann! Loved your caption!! 🙂
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Thanks Indira – I was glad of a caption that came to mind easily!
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Your photos are so good. There’s nothing like a bee on a flower to make me smile. It’s worth considering adding a bee house (or bee hotel, as they’re sometimes called) to a garden or other property, too. Many native bees are solitary, and don’t live in hives. There are any number of ways to provide for them. This is a good article, although there might be others written for your area.
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Thank you! 🙂 A bee hotel will be something for me to do soon. We do have ground nesting bees – one year I had to leave a small raised bed unused because there were bees making their homes there. I must check out that article…thanks for the link!
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So bees have their own day? I haven’t previously bee-n made aware of that.
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Hehe, I had bee-n unaware of it until I saw Steve’s post. There’s also ‘Bee’s Needs Week’ in July – so it must bee party time! 🙂
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We’d all better bee there then.
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🙂
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All fine photos of some of your bee visitors, Ann. There just are not enough bees so I am happy that your garden provides for them.
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Thanks Steve! I hope to see more bees here. Yesterday our ceanothus bush was buzzing with honeybees – a lovely sound! 🙂
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The rain is pouring down (again!), but your post helpfully reminds me that this spring hasn’t been a total washout. Great images of the bees, and super-colourful flowers too.
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I went out into the garden in a sudden sunny spell and was delighted to hear that our ceanothus bush was all abuzz with honey bees – a very comforting sound. My bee pictures for this post were all taken last year, but I’m sure there will be lots more flowers and bees around in a week or two.
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Hi Ann – your bee photo at the top is stunning and the others are great too! I try to take pix of flowers when there is a bee or critter on them. It does make for a really interesting image. Happy Bee Day!
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Thanks Syd! Sometimes the bees are very cooperative and sit still for long enough for me to get them in focus. But there are some species that seem to be always on the move – Hopefully I’ll get those eventually!
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Thanks for the info Ann. I feel sorry for the bees as May has been so chilly and very wet here in Belgium.
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The weather has been the same here in the UK too but I’m hoping that the sun will soon be back – and the bees with it. 🙂
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