Bee Friendly!

gillnurseryBirds, Butterflies, and Bees3 Comments

You may have asked yourself at some point in your botanical endeavors, what makes the plant world go around, especially for blooming plants?

Bees are the answer, and are undeniably the most important insect on the planet!  They allow us to enjoy all the bounty of our vegetable garden, the bounty of our fruit bearing plants and all the colorful flowers of our landscape. Bees primarily carry out the pollination process, and the impact alone involved in them landing on a flower will sometimes help to start that cycle.  Bees harvest pollen by gathering it on their backs and will transport it from one flower to another. This is critical for vegetables like squash, which have both male and female flowers.

To attract bees, you guessed it, you will need flowers. Flat or shallow blossoms like Zinnias, Salvias, Daisies and Asters will attract the largest variety of bees. I’ve found through my experience that bees also love Magic Mountain Basil. Unlike your other basils, you’ll want to keep the flowers on this one.  There are many other flowering plants you can choose from and here at Gills, we have most of them in stock, readily available.

If you are running out of room in your garden like I have, you can also consider this alternative: I have found that if you go out and tap all the blooms of your vegetables or fruit bearing plants with your finger, you can transport pollen the very same way. So the next time you get scared when you see a bee, don’t be.  We probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them. Bee friendly!

 

-Matt Pinkerton

3 Comments on “Bee Friendly!”

  1. So true. We are trying to keep the bees active in our yard! We have many plants that they can pollinate on and we can cohabitate with them.

  2. Bees also love African Blue Basil, which I grow as an ornamental. It will grow to be quite large, and bees swarm all over it.

  3. Any thoughts on starting a bee hive for my garden…and the neighborhood. Are their any local resources? Thanks, Robert

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