Create a buzz

Gardeners can help native bees. Here’s how.

A honey bee is busy pollinating on a yellow Gerbera in Cranbourne Botanic Gardens, Victoria.

The past year has been tough for bees. Bushfires destroyed nearly 20,000 beehives across Australia, with another 90,000 made unproductive in NSW alone when vast tracts of the state’s best nectar-producing forests burned, taking the field bees with them. Prolonged drought and extreme temperatures have also decimated bee and native pollinator numbers.

European honeybees are essential for producing crops such as almonds, cherries, apples, avocados, mangoes, canola and blueberries, leading to serious concerns that there won’t be enough “hives for hire” to service our orchards. In July nearly 250,000 hives will be needed just for the pollinating of almonds, macadamias and avocados.

Close-up of bee

Then there’s honey. Stephen Targett, president of the NSW Apiarists’ Association, predicts the state’s honey production could take a decade to recover from the expected 30 per cent drop. “The burnt forests will take many years to get back to full flowering,” he says. “That’s potentially going to affect Australian food security and prices.”

All this means home gardeners should do everything they can to help. We can make a difference. It can be as little as putting out shallow, pebble-filled dishes of water in dry times or letting weeds flower. Dandelions flower in late winter when bees are hungry; other bee-friendly weeds include cat’s ear and clover.

Most importantly, we must stop using the systemic pesticides that remain inside plants; traces in pollen and nectar months later will harm bees. Check the labels and if imidacloprid (banned in the EU) is the active ingredient, don’t use it. Even milder pesticides and fungicides can affect bees, so look for registered organic products and if you must spray, do it when bees are not around.

Bee hotel strapped to a tree. Built from timber and natural materials, it’s designed to attract solitary native bees to Australian suburban gardens.

To make your garden a bee haven, grow a wide variety of native and exotic flowers, with several blooming at any time of the year. Targett says autumn flowers are vital for bees to build up quality food stocks going into winter. They prefer flowers in sunny locations and out of the wind. They also favour larger clumps of the same plant together and are especially attracted to blue, purple, yellow and white blooms. “Single” flowers – with one ring of petals around an open centre – make it easy for bees to access pollen compared to “double” flowers with tightly packed, layered petals; these are sometimes sterile, producing no pollen and little nectar. With a mix of flower shapes, colours and patterns you’ll cater for a broad range of bee species and other beneficial insects too.

Of our 1700-odd species of native bees, some are stingless, many solitary, and their nests can be in soil, wood, mortar or hollow stems. These are the bees you can provide a “bee hotel” for, made with bamboo or pithy stems, and drilled wood or clay blocks.

The website aussiebee.com.au is a wonderful source of information, including the free 330-page guide Bee Friendly – A Planting Guide for European Honeybees and Australian Native Pollinators by Mark Leech. I also love Doug Purdie’s The Bee Friendly Garden (Murdoch Books).

What bees like

Native trees: eucalypts, bottlebrushes, banksias, paperbarks, lemon myrtle, white cedar, lillypillies Native shrubs: westringias, grevilleas, correas Exotic flowers: abelia, crepe myrtle, buddleias, hebes, roses, lavender, salvias, coneflower, echium, cupheas, catmint, cosmos, sunflowers, alyssum, zinnias, poppies

Q&A

As a new plantaholic, I’m filling my house with plants. I’ve seen photos of plants in glass containers of water. What plants or bulbs could I try? How long will they last? Robin Woodland, by email

Many plant cuttings will form roots in water and grow for months, even years, if given some fertiliser and clean water. Try any of the Philodendron, Monstera and Dracaena varieties, devil’s ivy (Epipremnum), mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis), spider plant (Chlorophytum), grape ivy (Cissus) and ivy. These need a stem cutting; African violets, Peperomia and Hoya will grow from a leaf with its stalk. Hyacinths will shoot and flower if bulbs sit just above the water.

Can I use grey water in a garden bed with mixed shrubs? Liz Smith, Hobart

In Tasmania grey water must be treated by an approved method, with a permit, before any re-use including irrigation. It can be applied using a bucket but not onto food plants. See cbos.tas.gov.au for details. Choose soaps and detergents low in sodium, phosphorus and boron. Alternate grey water with fresh water to mitigate effects.

How should I prune and care for my summer fruiting raspberries? Theresa F, Hunter region, NSW

They’re best trained on a trellis of horizontal wires about 1.6m high to keep them from being a tangled mess. Summer fruiting types fruit on two-year-old canes, which are removed at the base any time after harvest and before spring. Tie the newer, green canes to the trellis and wind them along the top wires. These will fruit next year. Dig out suckers arising outside the rows, and apply compost and mulch in spring.

Send questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question in May wins a Two Trees quilted double hammock, $99 (twotreeshammocks.com.au).