Most people think "save the bees" means saving honeybees.
Not quite.
There are 4,000 native bee species in North America. Almost none of them make honey. Almost none of them live in hives. They live alone, in hollow stems, in holes in wood, and in bare patches of soil, and they're far better pollinators of native plants and food crops than the honeybee ever was.
They're also disappearing. Not because of one dramatic cause. Because of a thousand small ones. Pesticides, tidy yards, mowed stems, raked leaves, and bare soil paved over are the biggest culprits.
Here's what you can do right now, this weekend, before the season gets away from you.
Leave hollow stems standing. When you cut back last year's perennials, leave 12-18 inch stems. Mason bees, leafcutter bees, and small carpenter bees nest in them. A stem you almost threw away is an apartment building.
Drill a nesting block. Take an untreated block of wood. Drill holes 5/16 inch in diameter, at least 6 inches deep. Face it east, mount it 3-6 feet off the ground near your flowers. Done. Blue orchard mason bees will find it within days.
Leave a bare patch of soil. 70% of native bee species nest in the ground. They need bare, undisturbed soil in a sunny spot. A patch the size of a dinner plate is enough to get started.
Add one native plant this week. Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is one of the most important native bee plants in North America. It blooms midsummer, feeds over 100 pollinator species, spreads easily, and smells incredible. Find it at a local plant nursery if you can, not a big box store that may use unpleasant chemicals.
Stop spraying. This one isn't negotiable. Pesticides don't discriminate. If you're doing everything else right and still spraying, you're undoing all of it.
Small yard, big impact. You got this.
Cheers,
Give A Shit About Nature