Have you seen some bees hovering over a flower in your garden? Have you ever wondered what benefits these stingy buzzing insects offer to the environment? Bees are considered as one of the top pollinators of plants, commercial crops, and native vegetation around the globe. They are also known for producing beeswax, honey, royal jelly, and propolis. However, knowing what plants are best for attracting bees will need expert advice from professional gardeners. Visit this site https://amico.com.au/our-services/garden-maintenance/ for expert gardening services.
Creating a bee-friendly space means planting wildflowers, blooming trees, and flowering shrubs to provide them with adequate nectar and pollen from spring to fall. Also, filling a bird bath with gravel will give them a drinking area without drowning them. You can also add some mud for nesting material and provide fallen logs or tree snags of sandy soil. You also need to know what types or species of bees are best in your garden. Below are the top bees to attract in the garden to keep your plants pollinated and healthy.
· Mason Bees
One popular type of bee is the mason bee which has over 140 species in North America. The colors of these solitary nesters may range from black and yellow striping to blue-black or green and lay eggs in a series of mud-walled chambers of decaying wood. Their name was derived from the word “masonry” because of their habit of using masonry products, such as mud, on constructing their nests. For fruit-bearing trees, the blue orchard mason bees are ideal pollinators.
· Squash Bees
Squash bees are fuzzy pollinators that gather nectar and pollen from specific plants only. These solitary ground nesters only gather exclusively from summer squash, winter squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and gourds. At the same time, they pollinate its flowers to allow them to produce more bounty in your garden. They are often confused with honey bees because of their resemblance in size and coloration. However, squash bees are bulkier, quite larger, have round faces and longer antennae. Also, it takes only around 6 to 10 squash bees to fully pollinate a female squash flower, so you want to have these bees around if you have such plants in your garden. If you are having a hard time growing squash seeds effectively in your garden, you can always hire professional gardening services Bondi from Amico to help you.
· Blueberry Bees
Another known type of bee is the blueberry bee, which is an important pollinator of blueberries in the South. These solitary ground-nesting bees dig burrows in sandy or loose soil and even beneath hardwood forest leaf litter as well as in the walls of earthen holes. They are known for using buzz pollination or vibrating their wings at a flower to shake the pollen out of it and are sometimes mistaken for bumblebees because of their similarity. Add blueberry bushes in your garden to encourage these types of bees on visiting your yard and never use lawn pesticides as well.
· Alkali Bees
Alkali bees are boldly striped bees that nests in salt-saturated or alkaline soil and form tunnels on the ground. They may not form hives, but their females build elaborate nesting tunnels close to each other forming colonies. Alkali bees are native to deserts in the west and are effective pollinators for alfalfa, which is an important forage crop around the globe.
· Bumblebees
Most bumblebees are social insects that form colonies with a single queen just like honeybees. They have round bodies covered in soft hair known as a pile, which makes them appear fuzzy. Bumblebees pollinate native wildflowers, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and other fruit-bearing plants.
Final Word
There are many types of bees in the world. Knowing which ones you want to attract can help you decide what plants are best in your garden. Also, make sure to care for them by encouraging nesting areas as well as avoiding the use of pesticides.