home sectionhome section
Bees provide an important function -- they transfer pollen, which allows for plant fertilization. When you think of planting a garden to attract bees, fully-grown plants that you purchase in a nursery may come to mind. Fortunately, there are a variety of plants you can sow directly in the garden from seeds. Help boost the bee population in your backyard and neighborhood with a bee garden of your own.
Oregon grape holly, Mahonia aquifolium, is actually not a grape or a holly. It's an evergreen shrub that belongs to the barberry plant family. The foliage changes color in winter, with leaves turning from dark green to deep purplish-red. Small, yellow flowers bloom on the Oregon grape holly in winter. The blue berries do not ripen until June. Neither flowers nor berries will appear on the plant unless pollination occurs.
Florida has four distinct growing zones from northern frosts to the tropical south. Common to all is the sandy soil that needs enriching to grow non-native plants. As well, all zones get high heat in the summer with high humidity from its long coastline, but watering is essential in the dry seasons. For a bee-loving plant garden in Florida, look for species native to your area as well as imports. Growing a garden to attract bees is both an art and science in Florida, reports beekeeping specialist Malcolm T. Sanford of the University of Florida.
Bees can be a nuisance when you find them flying around your face, but honey bees are non-aggressive bees that help your garden. Bee keepers keep honey bees for the home production of honey. Honey bees are nature's pollinators. They help increase the production of food crops and many different flowers in the flower garden. Honey bees are also a natural predator of many garden pests, such as lady bugs and soldier bugs.
Bees play an important role in the growing of some vegetables. Many garden plants produce both male and female blooms. Bees moving from a male flower to a female flower during feeding will pollinate the female bloom. Without bees to pollinate the bloom, the flower will wither without producing fruit. You can always grow plants that attract bees, but if you have a limited amount of space and want to grow cucumbers and squash, for example, you will need to use other methods to entice bees to your space.
The Tempo family of insecticidal products is manufactured by the Animal Health division of Bayer Healthcare. The product line contains powder, liquid sprays and concentrated formulations that kill both crawling and flying insects. The liquid versions of Tempo must be mixed with water before application. Although Tempo insecticide can be used anywhere, it is specifically designed to eliminate insects in barns, veterinary offices, kennels, stables and other areas where large numbers of animals reside.
Carpenter bees are named for their ability to bore holes into wood and create galleries beneath the wood's surface. These bees drill for nesting and for shelter, and do not consume the wood they destroy. Female carpenter bees are the excavators, boring clean, ½-inch-diameter holes about 1 to 2 inches deep before taking a right-angle turn and producing a 4- to 6-inch-long gallery. One or two bees do not cause much more than cosmetic damage, but repeated excavations of galleries can result in extensive wood damage.
In the winter of 2006 the honey bee population began to die out. Since then, as much as 70% of some bee populations have died as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Seventy farm grown crops, about one-third of our natural food supply, rely on honey bees for pollination. Imagine peanut better without jelly. If the honey bees disappear, so will the grapes and the strawberries, along with many of the other foods that have become not only favorites, but staples of the modern diet. You can help restore the honey bee population with a bee friendly garden.
