I’m Charlie Nardozzi and this is
the Vermont Garden Journal. You can
design flower gardens to attract, butterflies, hummingbirds, and even bats, but
what about the bees? Honey bees, bumblebees and native bees are essential to
our food supply. It’s estimated 1/3rd of every bite of food we take can be
attributed to bees. But bees have been having a rough time of late with mites
and diseases destroying their hives. So let’s help bees out by growing some
plants just for them.
In a flower, bees are looking for
pollen and nectar. Choose heirloom varieties naturally high in both and avoid
hybrids that have been bred for color, but lack the food bees need. Grow
flowers in patches, instead of individually. They’re easier for bees to find.
Honey bees can’t see the color red, so emphasize blue, white, violet, and
yellow colored flowers. Grow a mix of flower sizes and shapes; flat flowers
such as echinacea, tubular flowers like bee balm, and large flowers such as
hollyhocks for fat bumblebees. You can also provide shelter by planting
evergreens and leaving old snag trees in your yard. Just don’t spray any
pesticides that can harm bees.
For this week’s tip, are you
looking for a tough 15 to 20 foot tall flowering tree for your yard? Try the
tree lilac. It’s blooming now across our region. This upright tree has puffy,
ivory-colored flowers, few pests, and grows in part sun on poor, infertile clay
soil.
Next week on the Vermont Garden
Journal, I’ll be talking about cherries. For now, I’ll be seeing you in the
garden!
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