Bee Friendly
Gardening
Website: www.durhamwt.co.uk
Email: mail@durhamwt.co.uk
Tel: 0191 5843112
Why are Bees important?
Bees are essential agents in pollinating plants including many species which
provide us with food. Approximately one third of the food we eat is pollinated
by bees and in the UK alone, bees contribute £200m a year to the economy
through pollination. In all, bees play a crucial role in pollinating some 90
commercial crops worldwide. (http://vanishingbees.co.uk/).
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Despite this important role, the population of bees in the UK has decreased
dramatically over the past 50 years. This decline is probably due to loss of
traditional habitats such as hedgerows, hay meadows and chalk grassland
and increased use of pesticides.
How can I help?
Perhaps one of the best places to start helping bees is in your garden. In
the UK, you could attract as many as ten species of bee into your
garden.
Gardens cover over one million hectares of Britain, exceeding the combined
area of all our National Nature Reserves, they are central to the survival of
native bumblebees. Many gardens, however, contain exotic or highly
cultivated garden flowers which produce little or no nectar or are too complex
for bumblebees to feed from. The following pages give some simple pointers
of how to make your garden more appealing to bees.
Bees are dependant on
flowers for nectar to feed
them and pollen for
developing their young
There are 24 native species
of bumblebee in the UK.
Two species have become
extinct in the last 70 years.
Gardening tips
Bees feed on nectar from plants and require a food source from early Spring
through to Autumn. Include a variety of early and late flowering plants in your
garden to ensure they have a continual supply of food.
Plant nectar flowers in dense drifts of the same species so bees can easily
recognise them and save wasting energy trying to find the next food stop.
The table below suggests some species to include in your bee friendly garden.
Flowers for Bees
Early flowers
Bluebell
Primrose
Bugle
Cherry, appple
Single crocus
Aubretia
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Flowering current
Forget-me-not
Pussy Willow
Red dead-nettle
Winter heather
White dead-nettle
TOP TIP
Late flowers
Michaelmas
daisies
Buddleia
Escallionia
Ivy
Goldenrod
Lavender
Echinacea
Sedum
Red Valerian
Allow an area of grass to
grow dense and long for
bees to shelter and build nest
in. Carder bees build nests in
long grass, other species
prefer undisturbed compost
heaps.
Some favourites amongst the
bumblebees
Betony
Bugle
Buddleia
Comfrey
Clovers
Knapweed
Agastache
Poached Egg
PLant
Thistles
Verbascum
Borage
Rosemary
Nasturium
Catmint
Toadflax
Single Larkspurs
Chives
Lavender
Marojam
Sage
Mints
Viper Bugloss
Figwort
Snapdragon
TOP TIP
Different bees have different
lengths of tongues so providing a variety of different
flower shapes eg. Tubular,
bell-shaped and bowl-shaped
Flowers will encourage a variety of different bees.
Mystery holes in your flowers?
Buff-tail bumblebees have relatively small tongues which prevent them
reaching the nectar of many pendulous or tubular flowers so they nibble
a hole in the base of the flowers and sip the nectar out that way. Other
bees and insects might use the hole afterwards.
weeds
We often distinguish between plants we choose to put in our gardens and
ones which appear on their own—referred to as weeds.
Whilst it may be in our intentions to remove such plants,
TIP
species such as dandelions and white clover provide a TOP
Provide water for bees to
good source of pollen and nectar.
drink. This could be
Reduce the use of pesticides
Reducing the use of pesticides in the garden will benefit
many species of wildlife including bees.
These are some alternative methods to using pesticides.

Hand Picking - Removing areas of infestation by hand might be
time consuming but can be very effective and beneficial.

Natural Predators - Common garden pests such as aphids and
slugs can be controlled naturally by encouraging ladybirds, lacewings, frogs, hedgehogs and birds into the garden.

Companion Planting - Some plants can be grown amongst fruit
and vegetables to help keep pests away eg. French marigolds
planted among tomatoes—the smell of the marigolds keep black
and green fly away.
TOP TIP

Barriers - There are lots of barriers you can try
around vulnerable plants, for example, sharp
eggshells, copper, plastic bottles and straw
around plants can all help keep the slugs at bay.
Further Information

something as simple as a
small saucer of water with
pebbles on it to allow bees to
climb in and out easily.
The Co-operative Vanishing of the bees project: http://
vanishing bees.co.uk

Bumble Bee Conservation Trust: http://www.bumble
beeconservation.org.uk/

Full list of bee attractive plants: http://nature.berkeley.
edu/urbanbeegardens/docs/FullPlantList.pdf

Install a bee box into your
garden, or make one using
bamboo canes and old teasel
stems, creating hollow tubes
for bees to shelter in and for
solitary bees to lay their
eggs.
Rainton Meadows
Houghton-Le-Spring
Tyne & Wear
DH4 6PU
Tel: 0191 5843112
www.durhamwt.co.uk