To bee or not to bee?
The collapse of colonies has prompted many gardeners to adopt bee-friendly landscaping. One of the easiest things you can do is choose flowers for pollinators and plants that provide habitat for nesting and mating.
Below are five options. Can you spot the choice that actually repels bees?
It’s a perennial plant and a wild edible often taken in teas, tinctures and capsules for its healing properties. There are more than 100 varieties of this plant and one of them is the state flower of Nebraska.
Image Number: 1815R-12752306
Image Number: 1815R-12403458
Image Number: 4220-21689590
It’s vibrant color and fragrance attract hummingbirds. Blooms can be scarlet, azure, gray-green, purple or pink. The ancients believed it had healing properties and enhanced the memory.
Image Number: 4220-20094293
Image Number: 1491R-12797199
Image Number: 1566-12918138
It produces slender spikes with delicate pink or white flowers. You may find this in the mountains – or in your favorite drink, if you favor mojitos or mint juleps. Southerners use it to flavor sweet tea.
Image Number: 4421-21078038
Image Number: 1850-47806
Image Number: 1795R-69865
It is used in recipes around the world but it may remind you of an English garden or fields in Provence. This perennial is valued for its fragrance and it is popular in both wildlife gardens and xeriscape designs.
Image Number: 4428R-13242203
Image Number: 1815R-12888398
Native to Australia, this is one of the most widely planted trees in the world. Oil from the leaves can be used as an insect repellent, an antiseptic or a solvent. This tree grows fast and can be planted to help drain swamps.
Image Number: 824-12856750
Image Number: 4278-2338
Image Number: 4269-20536575
Could you ID all the flora? In order, they are: goldenrod, salvia, spearmint, lavender and eucalyptus. All of these plants put out the welcome sign to pollinators except spearmint.
Are you ready to BEE Inspired?
