Bees Ideas, Tips & Guides

How will we pollinate plants in space? Join Emma the Space Gardener to discover why future space crops will need pollination, and how that might be achieved. And learn the history of bees in space, and whether our buzzy friends will be joining us on future space missions.

You've Heard of No-Mow May — Try a Bee Lawn Instead! Maybe you have heard of «No-Mow May», but learn about the long-term benefits of installing a bee lawn from conservation expert, James Wolfin. Is “No-Mow May” a good idea?

Native Bees Overwinter in Unexpected Places Despite appearances, the bees never really left us. While we snuggle under blankets indoors, native bees hide under leafy covers of their own as they overwinter until spring. Where do native bees overwinter?

Feed Pollinators with These Cool-Season Plant Combinations Keep pollinators happy with these spring and fall blooming plant combinations! Grow cool-season plants for pollinators

If you’re looking for a light-hearted giggle, make a beeline for this hive of bee puns and bee jokes!

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing, which seems like a good time to take the next step on our space adventure. You choose the topic of bees in space, so here we go!

Header image: *Psyche Delia*/Flickr, CC BY-NC

Welcome interplanetary gardeners! This week’s Gardeners off World starts with a little video Boeing has put together of the inside of the crew cabin on the recent Starliner test flight (the one that took tree seeds into space). You can see Rosie the instrumented mannequin, but the highlight is watching astronaut Snoopy float about as the spacecraft reaches orbit, and then plop back down into his seat during the descent!

Philip Donkersley, Lancaster University

I wrote last month about my lack of gardening mojo, and it hasn’t come back. I don’t blame it, the weather has been dismal! Barely a whiff of sunshine. The news that a dry February is a harbinger of drought later this year sealed the deal for me; I’m not going to attempt a vegetable garden this year. I’ve planted the two beds of potatoes that I had chitting, and my pepper seedlings are coming along, but that’s it for annual vegetables. I’m turning over the other empty beds to flowers for the bees and other wildlife.

HOW DID I MISSED MARIA POPOVA’S bee item on her compelling Brain Pickings site in September, when she gathered (or curated, as she calls it) disparate inspirations about the essential creatures, whose plight on earth is so severely challenged?  Through Maria’s filter, their story is told with two very different must-watch videos, some truly up-close-and-personal electron microscope photographs, and her own words.SOMEONE ASKED ME ABOUT EDIBLE LANDSCAPING the other day, and I realized I’d lost track of the important, inspiring work of Rosiland Creasy, but now here she is: in the “Los Angeles Times” this week, for instance, with a new edition o

IT’S THE BEST PART OF THE HIGH-SUMMER GARDEN: being surrounded by a frenzy of buzzing from bees and hummingbirds stocking up on resources before things wind down.

This history of beelining, the other way to connect to honey bees besides keeping hives, is the subject of the book called “Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting,” by Cornell University biologist Thomas Seeley, just released in paperback edition. Tom, Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell, has been passionately interested in honey bees since high school, eventually doing his doctoral thesis on them, and his ongoing scientific work has primarily focused on understanding the phenomenon of swarm intelligence with the help of these incredible animals.Learn about how a hive works, with its female-dominated order, about how and why Tom beelines to locate wild hives. And maybe most astonishingly listen about what he calls our “shared uniqueness” with the honey bees–what characteristic we share with

COUNT THIS among things I didn’t know: Some bees visiting flowers are not actually doing the job of pollinating, but are in fact “pollen thieves.” A study from the University of Stirling in the UK, reported in Science Daily, reveals the details.yummy imperfection: alana chernila on ‘splendid table’IT WAS THRILLING to hear the familiar voice of friend and cookbook author Alana Chernila on NPR, specifically on “The Splendid Table,” talking about best intentions for cooking, and living. Plus: Get recipes for Alana’s popovers (they’ll transform an

While I can name my local mammals, birds, amphibians and reptile species, I admit to using the word “bee” a little, shall we say, generically, not even sure I know exactly what a bee is—and isn’t.Dr. Olivia Carril has that covered, and then some. She is a PhD plant biologist who has been studying bees and the flowers they visit for nearly 20 years. Olivia is also co-author with Utah State biology professor Joseph Wilson of “The Bees in Your Backyard,” the new book that

Back in 2009, in a coincidence that was clearly instigated by flower fairies, two separate teams of scientists stumbled upon the exquisite handiwork of Osmia avosetta bees. The discoveries were a single day apart; one team in Turkey, the other in Iran.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently lists 156 species of bees as vulnerable, 20 as endangered, and 11 as critically endangered globally. While those numbers are concerning, there are almost 20,000 different species of bees; in the United States alone, there are around 3,500 species. It’s important to keep these big numbers in mind while focusing on the specific species that need protection.

Carpenter bees reside in the fascia boards, porches, and wooden decks by digging tunnels in them. While these pests don’t eat the wood instead they use the place as a nest and can be quite a nuisance if you don’t get rid of them. If you’re looking for methods on How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees Naturally then here are some best ways!

Gardeners know pollinators are essential, especially those industrious bees buzzing tirelessly in and out of squash blossoms and trumpet vines. But one kind of bee may wear your patience thin if you’ve discovered their handiwork: Carpenter bees! If you’ve found perfectly round ½-diameter holes drilled into your deck timbers, wood siding, mailbox posts, or outdoor furniture with a little sawdust beneath the holes, you may be housing these gentle bees.

Gardeners know that all kinds of bees are good for ourflower andvegetable gardens. They’re responsible for pollinating crops as varied as almonds, apples, blackberries,blueberries, melons, squash, cranberries and forage crops. We want and need these industrious, little workers! But sometimes they get a little too close for comfort.

Help your garden bees this summer and autumn with the GardenAdvice Team by sowing a few seeds to help provide food and shelter for bees in your garden.

Colourful beehives were much in evidence whenever we walked in the countryside, but we were warned to steer well clear because the bees are a far more fearsome race than our placid British bees. At this time of year their main food source is the invasive acacia, so there may well be resistance to their eventual eradication. In the creepy cr

Bees, the cute winged insects that make sure to keep the pollination alive, are the most important part of our ecosystem. Unfortunately, the honey bee colonies are decreasing alarmingly, which can have an adverse effect on our climate. So, how about playing your little part and learning the ways to Attract Bees to Your Garden!

Bees are vital pollinators that are essential to our ecosystem and food supply. If you want them in your yard, then join us on a journey to discover the Best Plants that Attract Bees and bring your backyard to life with the hum of these buzzing little creatures.

The health of bees is something that is dear to my heart. Please join me in persuading the EU to ban neonicitinoids, the chemicals that are compromising both their and our future. Defra is dra

Among the various types of bees, Leafcutter Bees have garnered attention due to their unique behavior and distinctive nesting habits. So, Do Leafcutter Bees Sting? Are they good or bad? Time to find out!

Mr Postman Please Be Kind to Bees It would appear that the Post Office hasn’t got the message that bees are a good thing and that killing them is a bad thing, even when they interfere with the postal service.  Walking down a lane in Suffolk we came across this letterbox which had been taped up with black and yellow tape to stop people posting letters because some bees had taken up residence.  The result was frantic buzzing from inside, lots of bees trying to find their way in and many dead bees who had died trying to get into the box.  We tried to poke some holes in the tape but it fell off  (whoops) resulting in much happy bee activity.  I can’t imagine that anyone would be daft enough to try and post a letter in a box so clearly occupied by bees, but surely the correct action would be to put up a sign saying ‘Box out of action until bees can be moved’ and then call on the help of a local beekeeper?  We need all our bees.

We could learn from the honeybee. Researchers at UCL have evidence that honeybees increase social distancing when the hive is under threat from parasites.

They say once bitten is always twice shy. But if you’ve ever been stung by a honey bee, chances are that you’ll forever remain wary of the buzzing. With the fear of Africanized bees spreading, you should know the basic points of dealing with honey bees.

Ah, springtime!Don’t you just love the glorious profusion of new life as

Unlike the name suggests, carpenter bees are destructive rather than creative when it comes to the wooden structures in your abode. Don’t want these pests to burrow into the wood around your house? Read on to learn how to get rid of them.