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Creating a Wild Backyard - Bees

Bees are often overlooked as backyard wildlife. Yet, as these insects move gracefully about the garden they play an important role in pollinating flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables, especially native plants. It has been estimated that at least one third of all fruits and vegetables we eat are the result of bee pollination!

Natural History
A bee's tongue is perfectly suited for collecting nectar from a wide variety of flowers. While bees gather nectar from the base of a flower's petals, pollen sticks to their body hairs. Female bees are equipped with brushes on their legs that allow them to remove pollen from their body. They store this pollen under their abdomen or on their hind legs. The pollen collected is taken back to the nest and used for feeding larvae and other bees. However, a bee can never completely remove all the pollen from her body and this allows pollen to be transferred from one flower to the next.

Creating a Bee Garden
Because of the importance of pollination, garden flowers need bees and other insect pollinators to visit. Tall plants such as sunflowers, goldenrods and liatris will attract pollinators and lure them to shorter plants in your garden. Bees also like climbing vines such as scarlet runner beans, sweet peas, native scarlet trumpet honeysuckle, and clematis, growing up a fence, trellis or along a deck railing.

Creating a bee garden is easy. Your garden can be a window box, a few pots, or even a large field of plants. No matter what the size, it will be valuable to pollinators. Establish your garden in a location where the plants will receive full sun exposure for most of the day. Plant a variety of plants, providing a succession of blooms from early spring until fall. When choosing which plants to use, avoid plants described as "double." Usually, this refers to plants that develop extra petals instead of anthers and, thus, have little or no pollen available for bees. For example, marigolds, mums, and roses will attract few bees unless you plant the "single" varieties. Bees seem to be especially attracted to blue, purple, or yellow flowers and they particularly like flowers that smell spicy and sweet. See our list of bee-attracting plants.

Gardening Tips
Pesticides can harm or kill beneficial, as well as pest insects. You can encourage natural pest control by allowing beneficial insects such as spiders and ladybugs to establish residence in your garden. You can also try to remove bugs from your plants with a stream of water. If, however, you must use a pesticide, remember to follow the application instructions and apply these materials after sundown, when pollinators have returned to their nests. It is recommended that you do not use dust pesticides because they easily collect onto the hairs of pollinators and are carried back to their nests. Avoid systemic pesticides, which travel throughout the entire plant and do not spray chemicals directly on the flowers. Watering lawns too deeply can drown ground-nesting pollinators. Lawn herbicides and pesticides can also poison them. Maryland law requires anyone who applies pesticides (including herbicides) on public land to be certified. For more information on pesticide applicator certification, contact the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Regulation Section, at http:www.mda.state.md.us

More Ways to Attract Bees
Bees also need sources of water. Water can be provided in very shallow birdbaths or by adding a quarter inch of sand to a large saucer, such as those designed to fit beneath clay flower pots. Fill the saucer so that the water rises about a quarter inch above the sand. Add a few flat stones, some should rise above the water and some should just touch the surface. These stones will allow bees and other insects to drink without drowning.

Another way to attract bees is to provide nest and hibernation sites on your property for a variety of species. You will be successful at attracting particular species by creating their ideal nesting site.

Bumblebee queens naturally hibernate and nest in abandoned rodent nests, birdhouses, snags and logs. They also are attracted to rotting wood, piles of cut vegetation, compost heaps, and mounds of earth and rubble. To supply nest sites for other ground-nesting species, leave a small patch of bare ground in your garden, preferably in a sunny location. Suggested size is 3 feet by 3 feet.

Stem-nesting species, such as the leafcutter and mason bees, will nest in your backyard if you provide brush piles, dead trees, or at least some dead branches and dried pithy stems. Because they typically nest in holes made in wood, stem-nesting species will also benefit from man-made nesting blocks. You can create a bee house designed specifically for them with the instructions provided.

Mason bees, such as the hornfaced bee and the blue orchard bee, also use mud to build their nests. Therefore, adding a supply of mud may be helpful in encouraging them to nest on your property. To do this, dig a one foot deep trench near their nest and keep the soil within it muddy. Once established, mason bees will use the mud to prepare their nest for young.

If you find that a bee colony is located too close to your house and you would like to remove it, do not use chemicals to destroy it. Instead, check your phonebook or call your county extension agent for assistance. In Maryland, you can call the Cooperative Extension - University of Maryland at 1-800-342-2507 (Home and Garden Information Center) or visit their website at www.agnr.umd.edu/users/hgic.

How to Build a Bee House

Materials:

4" x 4" x 6" block of untreated wood

Construction:

1. Drill holes in the block, spaced 3/4" apart. 
   For leafcutter bees, the holes should be 1/4" wide and 2 1/2 -4" deep.
   For mason bees, drill 5 - 5 1/2" deep, 5/16" wide holes. Do not drill completely through the block.
   

2. Place block on the side of a house or shed, beneath the eave, or mount it securely on a fence post or pole at the edge of the yard. Attach an overhanging roof piece to the block if placed away from an overhang or building eave. 
   

3. Block should be erected in early spring and placed at least three feet above the ground. 
   Position block to face southeast, allowing it to get morning sun.

For Additional Information, Contact:
 
 Wild Acres Program
 Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
 Attn:  Marilyn Mause
 Gwynnbrook WMA
 3740 Gwynnbrook Ave
 Owings Mills MD 21117
 410-356-0941
 E-Mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us