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Gardening with a Purpose: Blooms for Bees [1]
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Date: 2023-07-19
Farewell to Spring blooming at the start of summer.
It’s officially summer in my small urban garden in Eugene, OR. Just after the solstice a native annual called Farewell-to-Spring (aka Satin Flower or Godetia) bloomed profusely in the wildflower patch in my backyard. I seeded the patch last year, and the tall flower spikes came back this year in mid June - goodbye spring, hello summer!
For the last year I have been making my yard a welcoming place for pollinating insects, especially wild bees, which are on the decline due to habitat loss and overuse of pesticides.
It’s time for me to take inventory of what flowering plants in my garden have seemed the most attractive to bees. I have noted some small bees on the Farewell-to-Spring flowers, but other blooms have been a lot more buzzy.
Earlier in the season another native annual, Baby Blue Eyes, also growing in the wildflower patch, was visited by a variety of insects, notably a Black-tailed Bumble Bee, a new species for my garden, and little black carpenter bees..
A Black-tailed Bumble Bee diving for pollen in a Baby Blue Eyes flower. May 5 2023
Tiny carpenter bee on a Baby Blue Eyes flower. May 10 2023
Other flowers that have hosted a lot of bee visitors this summer include California Poppy, Black-eyed Susan and Blanket Flower, plus Showy Daisy and Oregon Sunshine - two Northwestern asters. The majority of the bees I noticed were furrow, or sweat, bees, which dig holes in bare garden soil in which they lay their eggs. Yellow-faced Bumble Bees and longhorn bees have also been abundant.
A Yellow-faced Bumble Bee harvesting pollen from California Poppy. June 2 2023
A green metallic sweat bee gathering pollen from Oregon Sunshine, a native aster. June 2 2023
A Ligated Furrow Bee, a common sweat bee in the garden, on Showy Daisy, another native aster. June 6 2023
A longhorn bee, with very long antennae, on Black-eyed Susan. July 13 2023
Perennials in my garden with tubular flowers - bee balm, lavender and Russian Sage — were loved by honeybees and bumblebees.
A Western Honey Bee on a lavender flower. July 11 2023
I am happy so far with the flowering plants I have added to my pollinator habitat. Most have been super busy with a variety of bees.
For an inspirational treat, the PBS video ‘My Garden of a Thousand Bees’, which documents bee habits during one summer in an English urban garden by a master of nature photography, is available online. www.pbs.org/...
What flowers that attract bees and other pollinators do you have in in your habitat? Images appreciated!
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