Three tips for a pollinator friendly garden

With summer just around the corner, it’s time to start planning your outdoor space. Whether you have a big backyard or a small garden on your condo balcony, make sure you plant with honey bees and other pollinators in mind.

1. Get a little help from honey bees. Plants reproduce when pollen is transferred from one flower to another, and pollinators are one of nature’s best at this job. Nectar and pollen provide nutritious food sources for their hives, but while they travel from plant to plant, they also spread pollen. Due to their pollinating prowess, honey bees and other pollinators are responsible for one out of three bites of food we eat.

2. Choose the right flowers. No matter the size of your garden, even the smallest patch of flowers can help feed honey bees and other pollinators in your community. Be sure to consider plants like the lance-leaved coreopsis, New England asters and many other plants native to Canada to help your garden flourish.

3. Take advantage of free seeds. Honey bee populations in Canada are at an all-time high, and it’s important we keep them that way. We can all help honey bees and other pollinators find nutritious food. Sometimes it can be hard to find the right pollinatorfriendly seeds, but you can take the guesswork and expense out of finding plants they’ll love by signing up for a free Buzzing Gardens seed kits at www.beesmatter.ca.