WASHINGTON — Bees have seen their population dwindle over the years and with Pollinator Week starting Monday, there are ways you can make your yard more bee-friendly.
“Number one, don’t use pesticides. Number two, don’t use pesticides. And number three, don’t use pesticides,” stated WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath.
McGrath says bees should not be feared nor confused with other aggressive insects like wasps and yellowjackets. Instead, he says they should be viewed as the means by which we get our food.
“That’s how we get our sweet red bell peppers and summer squash,” McGrath said. “That includes a lot of grains that bees pollinate. So, you could say no bees, no beer.”
Aside from not using chemical pesticides in your yard, the best way to help the bee population is with your plants.
“You want to have something in bloom all year long,” recommended McGrath. “You want to have the earliest blooms on the block and you want to have plants that are still blooming out there through Christmas. Things like pansies, for instance, that bloom sometimes in even freezing cold.”
Bees also like big blocks of single-colored plants.
“They don’t want to see the American flag replicated on the lawn. But they would like to see a giant patch of violet blue flowers all jumped up together, all in a tight knit area.”
Along with violet, bees also like white and yellow.
