If the thought of attracting bees to your garden makes you shake with fright, keep in mind that planting bee-friendly plants and flowers will provide you with a beautiful, colorful garden. I once read that bees pollinate one-sixth of the world’s flowering plants, making them one of nature’s hardest working creatures!
A variety of plants (for both sunny and shady places in your garden) that will attract bees and add beauty to your space are poppy, lavender, geraniums, sunflowers, crocus, cosmos, echinacea, snapdragons, foxglove, and hosta.
As you know, bees love nectar and as they acquire the nectar from flowering plants, they collect pollen on their bodies. Each time the move to another flower, some of that pollen drops off onto the neighboring plant. I just went all sciencey on you again. Anyway, choosing which flowers you should plant to attract bees may seem like a daunting task; however, it is simpler than you may think. Choose flowers that will provide abundant nectar and pollen.
Other considerations include finding plants that provide benefits to bees, like the hollow stems of shrubs to provide nesting sites for certain types of bees. When selecting bee-friendly plants, keep in mind your growing conditions, seasons and location of the flowers. After all, you may not want the buzz of the bees to intrude on your Saturday morning coffee on the patio or to scare off any bee-fearing guests at your next dinner party.
To get all dorky and scientific on ya’ll, the fear of bees is called melissophobia. If you’re afraid of bees, you’re not alone. It is recognized as a legit phobia. It is one of the most common fears among people. Though being afraid of bees is common, what you should really be afraid of are yellow jacket wasps!
Those nasty things will really hurt you! Just look at how mean these things look! And, they can be sneaky little devils. Last winter, I pulled out the blanket from the side of my couch and began to get cuddled up on to watch tv. Out of nowhere, I felt an excruciating pinch on the back of my right leg. I immediately threw off the blanket and there he was! A slow moving, sleepy wasp (probably hibernating for the winter in our house) had just stung me. There he was, crawling along as if nothing had happened at all. I pulled up the leg of my pajama bottoms and found a huge welt. The sting kept getting more and more intense. By this time, the wasp was smashed to pieces by my loving husband who came in like Prince Charming to save me from the horrid thing! I had never been stung by a wasp until that night, and now I can tell you that I, without a doubt, HATE those things! But…the bees can stay!
Leave comments or questions below, I’d love to hear from you! Until next time, cheers!
Love the bee friendly article Lonnie