A weed is a plant growing in the wrong spot, so some say. Some weeds are the first source of nectar and pollen for bees in the early spring. Spraying insecticides, herbicides and fungicides may make your gardens and lawns look perfect to you, but to bees of all kinds, insects and wildlife they can be deadly. 

The movement to make your lawn area a growing natural area instead of a food desert for insects is taking hold. Even if you don't raise honeybees, considering replacing grass with native perennials, trees, and wildflowers will help create a living garden.

Below is a small sample of herbs, weeds and what you can do to help keeps honeybees and native bees happy.

 

Herbs:

 

Oregano, mints, basil, borage, dill, parsley, rosemary, thyme, sweet woodruff, lavender, Anise hyssop, bergamot, chives, lemon balm, sage…

Use it for your food and let some go to flower for the bees.

 

Weeds:

 

Dandelions, white clover, crimson clover, buckwheat (not all weeds but soil fixers for farm fields) chick weed, henbit, purple deadnettle, speedwell, thistle, milkweed, Japanese knotweed…

 

Everything else:

 

Bees need water, keeping a water source will help keep bees from bird baths and swimming pools. Bees do not mind pool water, in fact saltwater pools are their favorites! 

 

Making a bee bath with corks floating, pond plants, something that floats so they don't drown. They don't need the water to be pristine  and clean, sometimes the nastiest puddles or wet areas are major attractors of bees. On farms they can be found around manure piles, mineral salt blocks and other areas you would not guess.

 

Created for Greater Baltimore Beekeepers © 2024