We rely on them to pollinate one-third of our food!
Bees are under threat from pesticides, loss of habitat and varroa mites – we must strive to have bee-friendly gardens. It’s not just the honeybee and bumblebee. The UK plays host to about 260 species of solitary bees in the UK, often mistaken for wasps or hoverflies.
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, one-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 honeybees and bumblebees. They pollinate more than £200million of commercially-grown crops in the UK every year.
We can help pollinators by having bee-friendly gardens
What can we, as ordinary gardeners, do to ease the bees’ plight?
- Use bee-friendly plants in clumps in sunny places, not scattered about or in the shade.
- 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 herbaceous plant stems, 2-8mm wide. Buy cardboard nest tubes and bee hotels in garden centres. Drill holes 2-8mm in diameter 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. Look for articles on the state of the bee population, Asian hornet sightings and plants for pollinators.
Bee-friendly gardens – suitable flowers
Bees need a food source when active and foraging, which is above 10°C. Make sure you have single-flowered plants blooming in all seasons! These are merely suggestions; many more plants will be suitable.
SPRING: hellebore, pansy, Muscari, Pulmonaria, bluebell, bugle, crab apple, daffodil, flowering cherry and currant, forget-me-not, 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 could be foraging on any day if the temperature rises to 10°C or above – Viburnum tinus, Choisya ternata, Mahonia japonica, ivy.
Pyrethrum, pyrethroids and pyrethrins
Pyrethrums are a group of natural insecticides that 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 pyrethrums
- If applied to blooming plants on dewy nights or when temperatures fall below 16°C, the residual effects are twice as hazardous to bees.
- Dust or granular forms are the most hazardous. 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 show a heightened sensitivity to toxicity, even in very low doses. Avoid use if you have a pond – or a cat.
Read more about B&Q’s stance on neonicotinoids.
