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We have a few logs that were sitting about the yard for mostly decorative interest -- and also to return their nutrients to the soil. DH drilled their sunny sides out, before making the boxes.
Note that the Bumble Bee boxes should be placed on or underground. (I missed that yesterday day, and only just now saw it! )
Thanks again. I have a number of landscape timbers on my lot. I think I will trash the box and just drill holes in a few of the timbers. I'll just have to find a spot that catches the morning sun and afternoon shade as well as being away from traffic.
Thanks again. I have a number of landscape timbers on my lot. I think I will trash the box and just drill holes in a few of the timbers. I'll just have to find a spot that catches the morning sun and afternoon shade as well as being away from traffic.
I've got a lot of pollinators that are not honey bees. Not a lot of honey bees in my area, but a whole bunch of different tiny little wasps and bees doing their job.
I need the pollination for my fruit orchard, but the fruit blooming period is short. So all along the edge of the orchard, I have a strip of "bee garden" filled with things the bees like and that have an extended growing season.
I figure they can find their own home, but they need food. I provide some food for them.
I spray, but spraying is timed to not harm the bees and even with the spraying I have a very healthy population of pollinators.
My yard is packed full of garden. I mostly see blad faced hornets building huge wasp nests and they do sting people all the time, my little one had 21 stings under his shirt! We remove them as fast as they build. Do these hornets pollinate? I don't see very many bees, sometimes a few very large bumble bees are around.
My yard is packed full of garden. I mostly see blad faced hornets building huge wasp nests and they do sting people all the time, my little one had 21 stings under his shirt! We remove them as fast as they build. Do these hornets pollinate? I don't see very many bees, sometimes a few very large bumble bees are around.
I didn't know the answer so I googled and found this:
"Most wasp species are predators. Their function is in the control of many other insect species. They are actually very effective parasitoids, and because of this efficiency they have been used for decades as biological control agents. Many crop pests including hornworms and scale insects which cost millions of dollars in loss annulally are controled by wasps. Without these predators, tomatoes, oranges, tobacco, and many other important crops would be so scarce that the price of them would skyrocket."
That said, I have no problem with killing wasps, but I don't grow any of those things in my yard.
Still, I am opposed to using poisons that could harm other of any kind, so when I do kill the wasps it is with baited bags or bottles that they enter and cannot escape from. I also put them out of sight. (I cannot stand seeing them trapped. )
I'm not a fan of encouraging bees near my house...I was swarmed and badly stung as a kid and mildly phobic about them. Although I really like bugs in general and am quite fascinated by them!
Your post got me thinking though, on the far side of my yard I have some sunny spots amongst the trees and have been considering putting in some sturdy native perennials...flowers, shrubs, etc. This was on the Xerces website; I've bookmarked it. So maybe I can be pollinator-friendly without having bees buzzing around my house.
I never got to comment earlier when the OP first posted and it was interesting to read all the posts. Thanks to the OP for an interesting topic. I have had so many bees in the garden in the last few years but never really though much about them, outside of occasionally worrying about being stung. I think there is probably a greater likelihood of getting hurt by the wasps I also have a bounty of!
There is a good mixture of European and native in the garden since we have several beekeepers locally so I don't think I'll need to provide habitats/homes. After reading here I decided to see what plants were on the list locally. It was gratifying to see how many of the plants I picked for other reasons are what the native bees like. There was something for all of the seasons from earliest spring to late fall. I'll keep the other plants I don't have on a list of what to add to the garden eventually.
I'm not a fan of encouraging bees near my house...I was swarmed and badly stung as a kid and mildly phobic about them. Although I really like bugs in general and am quite fascinated by them!
Your post got me thinking though, on the far side of my yard I have some sunny spots amongst the trees and have been considering putting in some sturdy native perennials...flowers, shrubs, etc. This was on the Xerces website; I've bookmarked it. So maybe I can be pollinator-friendly without having bees buzzing around my house.
Yay, Great Lakes! (I am a native of SW Michigan.)
Yes, any little bit helps. Thank you for doing what you can. You might even find -- as I did, that most bees are very good neighbors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by J&Em
I never got to comment earlier when the OP first posted and it was interesting to read all the posts. Thanks to the OP for an interesting topic. I have had so many bees in the garden in the last few years but never really though much about them, outside of occasionally worrying about being stung. I think there is probably a greater likelihood of getting hurt by the wasps I also have a bounty of!
There is a good mixture of European and native in the garden since we have several beekeepers locally so I don't think I'll need to provide habitats/homes. After reading here I decided to see what plants were on the list locally. It was gratifying to see how many of the plants I picked for other reasons are what the native bees like. There was something for all of the seasons from earliest spring to late fall. I'll keep the other plants I don't have on a list of what to add to the garden eventually.
I love reading posts like this. Thank you for sharing. My original garden plans were for butterflies and birds, but the bees made the yard their home as well, and they are a welcome addition. As for beekeepers in the area, be aware that they do not support wild bees, and carry only a small fraction of the pollination needs -- that's why there is the need for the wild bee habitats. Still, perhaps with time you will decide to help the wild ones, too. (I hope so.)
My yard is packed full of garden. I mostly see blad faced hornets building huge wasp nests and they do sting people all the time, my little one had 21 stings under his shirt! We remove them as fast as they build. Do these hornets pollinate? I don't see very many bees, sometimes a few very large bumble bees are around.
I encourage bees of all sorts on my property, I have lilac bushes, butterfly bushes, lavender bushes, my privets drive bees crazy too. But the plant bees absolutely adore is rosemary when it blooms, it will be crawling with bees. But I am alergic to yellow jackets and ground wasps and discourage them vehemently, but I am also organic and refuse to use pesticides, so I make an organic spray from pyrethrum daisy [feverfew] that I also have growing. I use the flowers, leaves and stems broken up and steeped in a plastic bottle with Dawn dish soap. I can mix the spray in a spray bottle or just shake the bottle hard till it foams up and squirt the foam onto or into the ground wasp or yellow jacket nest. It sticks to the wasps and penetrates the nest and kills the larva and adults. It also works well on large ant colonies that get out of control. Feverfew will also kill bees, so only use it on fruit trees on the trunks, let it drip down and coat the trunk and it creates a barrier that keeps ants away. I also plant it is as a companion for lemons and roses to keep the ants away.
I encourage bees of all sorts on my property, I have lilac bushes, butterfly bushes, lavender bushes, my privets drive bees crazy too. But the plant bees absolutely adore is rosemary when it blooms, it will be crawling with bees. But I am alergic to yellow jackets and ground wasps and discourage them vehemently, but I am also organic and refuse to use pesticides, so I make an organic spray from pyrethrum daisy [feverfew] that I also have growing. I use the flowers, leaves and stems broken up and steeped in a plastic bottle with Dawn dish soap. I can mix the spray in a spray bottle or just shake the bottle hard till it foams up and squirt the foam onto or into the ground wasp or yellow jacket nest. It sticks to the wasps and penetrates the nest and kills the larva and adults. It also works well on large ant colonies that get out of control. Feverfew will also kill bees, so only use it on fruit trees on the trunks, let it drip down and coat the trunk and it creates a barrier that keeps ants away. I also plant it is as a companion for lemons and roses to keep the ants away.
Oh my, I think I love you! I cannot wait to send this to DH! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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I cannot wait to send this to DH! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
