Hello there mommy bee!
For some nature time, I walked through the Pollinator Garden behind Garden City Hall. It’s a self-guided tour with signs explaining the different types of bees, and identifying tags on all the plants. It was a busy place as native bees were building nests in the ground. MOST native bees are ground-nesters.
Even though mulching is a popular landscape additive, and there are benefits, it’s detrimental to native bees. They need patches of bare ground.
Most native bees don’t have stingers, and even when they do, they are usually not loaded with the type of venom that causes pain. They are not interested in you. They want food and they want to lay eggs as fast as they can.
The brightest bee-loving flowers blooming in the garden right now are Pasque flowers, Pulsatilla vulgaris. They’re perennials that don’t need much water or special care.
Got gardening or bee questions? Ask me, deb@riverboise.com
~Debbie