Bee
Scientific Name: Apidae
Bees are a common garden insect that are beneficial for your garden!
How to identify:
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Mid-sized insect whose most notable feature is alternating black and yellow stripes.
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They have stubby legs, and short antennae.
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Bees are typically fuzzy looking, and have a fairly wide body compared to their length.
Benefits:
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Bees play a key role in gardens since they are pollinators.
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This basically means that they will take the pollen from one plant, and bring it to another which will fertilize the plant and start the process of seed and fruit development.
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In a way, it is pollinators like bees that keep your garden alive.
How to keep your garden bee friendly:
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Have a diverse garden which will ensure that there will be flowers in bloom from early spring through late fall.
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Choose single flowers (one ring of petals) over double flowers, as these have more nectar and pollen.
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Choose blue, purple and yellow flowers as these are most attractive to bees.
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Bees like plants such as alyssums, echinaceas, geraniums, poppies, black-eyed Susans, clover, daisies, and Queen Anne’s lace.
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Avoid using pesticides as these are toxic to bees.
How this relates to conservation:
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Frequent insecticide use and urbanization due to humans is causing a large-scale decline in bee populations around North America. Bees play an important role as pollinators beyond our gardens, they are key players in pollinating crops in North America, which provide food on our tables. Therefore, it is important to keep your garden bee friendly and limit pesticide use in order to encourage bee populations to rise again before it is too late.
