Plant treats for healthy bees
Helen English can think of nothing nicer than lying on her lawn, looking up through the blossoms of her flowering cherry, watching the bees.
‘‘The noise they make is just amazing - you almost feel like you’re buzzing yourself.’’
Helen keeps a couple of hives on her farm but does so not just for honey. She feels a keen sense of responsibility for the bees.
‘‘They need all the help we can give them. I keep a puddle in our driveway full all year long, so they’ve got somewhere to drink. The can’t swim, but they still need to drink.’’
Helen has changed the way she gardens since she became fascinated with bees.
‘‘I love double petunias, but I only plant singles because the bees get into them easier.
‘‘Buxus is nice, but there’s nothing there for the bees. We need to be planting good oldfashioned bedding plants.’’
She speaks regularly to garden clubs about the benefits of bees in the garden, and says people just need to be reminded about what bees need.
‘‘If you’re looking for something for tea, you don’t go to a lolly shop. If a bee is looking for tea, it’s not going to fly into a garden with no flowers. We’ve become fifty shades of green, but there’s nothing in it for the bees. They need flowers.’’
Helen swears by thyme, crab apples and flowering cherries.
‘‘You don’t need a big garden - you just need to plant things that the bees will eat like herbs and flowers.’’ Helen also only mows her lawns once the day has cooled and the bees have gone to bed.
‘‘I used to mow around all the patches of daisies but that got a bit tiresome. My ride-on mower has lights, so I can mow at night once the bees have gone to bed.’’ Bee Aware Month ( BAM) is devoted to making New Zealanders think more about the honey bee and its critically important role in our biodiversity and economy.
NZ’s bee population contributes about $5 billion to our economy annually and they support about one third of everything we eat.
One of the main ways the public can help bees is by planting bee-friendly gardens.
Apiculture New Zealand sells bee friendly wildflower seed mix packets on the ApiNZ website. Bees will forage on these flowers for nectar and pollen which provide carbohydrates and protein for growth and energy. Wellnourished bees are more capable of fending off disease and parasites.
Visit apinz.org.nz for more information.