We rely on them for a third of our food!
Bees are under threat from pesticides, loss of habitat and varroa mites – we must strive to have bee-friendly gardens. The UK plays host to about 260 species of solitary bees in the UK, often mistaken for wasps.
In the UK, about 70 crops depend on or benefit from visits from bees. They pollinate the flowers of many plants, which become food for farm animals. If bees go, a third of the food we eat would vanish. Imagine life with no apples, onions, avocados, carrots, lemons, limes, melon, courgettes, aubergines, cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, leeks, kale or broccoli. Take the economic value of bees. They pollinate more than £200million of crops in the UK every year.
We can help pollinators by having bee-friendly gardens
What can we do to ease the bees’ plight?
- Use bee-friendly plants in clumps in sunny places.
- Look for single blooms – avoid double, multi-petalled or pollen-free cultivars. They may lack pollen and/or nectar, or it may be difficult for bees to reach them.
- Provide nest sites for solitary bees. Some like hollow spaces, such as bamboo canes or plant stems, 2-8mm wide. Buy cardboard nest tubes and bee hotels in garden centres. Drill holes 2-8mm wide in fence posts or logs. Place them in sunny sites.
- Some solitary bees nest in bare soil or short turf. Queen bumblebee nest boxes are often ignored. They prefer to find their nest sites in tunnels dug by mice or in the grass.
- The British Beekeepers Association has excellent information.
Bee-friendly gardens – flowers
Bees need a food source when active, which is above 10°C. Make sure you have plants flowering in all seasons! These are merely suggestions:
SPRING: hellebores, pansy, Muscari, Pulmonaria, bluebells, bugle, crab apple, daffodils, flowering cherry and currant, forget-me-nots, hawthorn, pussy willow, Rhododendron, rosemary, Viburnum, thrift, periwinkle, fruit blossom, bramble.
EARLY SUMMER: Aquilegia, Astilbe, Campanula, comfrey, everlasting sweet pea, fennel, foxglove, geranium, Potentilla, snapdragon, Stachys, teasel, thyme, Verbascum.
LATE SUMMER: Sedum, Salvia, Echinacea, Nepeta, Angelica, Aster, Buddleja, cardoon, cornflower, Dahlia (single), Eryngium, Fuchsia, globe thistle, heather, lavender, Penstemon, Scabious, Verbena bonariensis.
AUTUMN: Agastache (anise hyssop), wild marjoram, Echium vulgare (viper’s bugloss), Hebe elliptica, Solidago virgaurea, Valeriana officinalis, ivy.
WINTER: Bees can forage on any day if the temperature rises to 10°C or above – Viburnum tinus, Choisya ternata, Mahonia japonica, ivy.
Pyrethrum, pyrethroids and pyrethrins
This group of natural insecticides are extracted from chrysanthemum flowers. The extract is called pyrethrum, and the insecticides within that extract are called pyrethrins. They are less harmful than most chemicals to humans and mammals, but are still toxic to other creatures, including bees.
Classed as ‘moderately toxic’, Pyrethrum can kill bees – this is why I don’t use it.
Pyrethrins appear in household insect sprays, outdoor and indoor herbicides, lice, flea and tick treatments, often mixed with other chemicals to make them effective for longer, often with pyrethroids. Insecticides containing pyrethrum and one of these other chemicals are usually more toxic than pyrethrum-based insecticides alone.
Bee-friendly gardens – why not to use pyrethrum
- If applied to plants on dewy nights or when temperatures fall below 16°C, the effects are twice as hazardous to bees.
- Dust or granular forms are the most dangerous. Pyrethrum dust lands on the bees carried back to the hive and the queen.
- Pyrethrins are mildly toxic to humans, but the chemical enhancer piperonyl butoxide is considered a human carcinogen.
- Cats and fish are sensitive, even in very low doses. Avoid use if you have a pond – or a cat.
Read more about B&Q’s stance on neonicotinoids. How to deal with bee and wasp stings.
