BEE HOTELS HELP POLLINATORS, ADD WHIMSY TO GARDEN
Rustic structures help pollinators and add whimsy to gardens
Colorado has nearly 1,000 different species of bees. Now, native bee hotels are creating a lot of buzz. Even Costco now sells bee houses. Also known as pollinator homes, these small rustic structures resemble dwellings garden fairies might favor. Actually, they’re designed as ideal shelters for native bees.
“Bee hotels are nesting sites. They’re charming and can be a piece of art in the garden, as well as something beneficial,” said Sonya Anderson, a horticulture specialist and insect innkeeper at Denver Botanic Gardens.
Ladybugs, butterflies and spiders might check into the bug hotels, but guests of honor are bumblebees, long-horned bees, mining and mason bees, leaf-cutter bees and green sweat bees.
“Native bees are essential to wildland ecosystems. These bees pollinate many native wildflowers, shrubs and trees, which in turn, provide cover, food and nesting sites to many wild animals,” said Diane Wilson, trials supervisor at Applewood Seed Company in Arvada. “Nesting sites are just as important to native bees as food sources — flowers — and will help to increase pollinator populations in your garden.”
Applewood Seed Company added bee hotels eight years ago after researching pollinator conservation. “We use twig bundles, bamboo bundles, and mason bee nest boxes. We also have a stump with holes drilled into it,” Wilson said.
“We have counted over 100 species of pollinators in our gardens,” said Wilson.” On rare occasions we will observe a pollinator such
as the western bumblebee in our gardens. This bee species is in decline, and so it is very exciting to find one.”
Becky Hahnel crafted the quaint rustic bee hotels displayed at Denver Botanic Gardens. She used untreated wood, salvaged bricks, pinecones, paper egg cartons, bark, moss and reeds.
Unlike honeybees, native bees have no queens, colonies, stingers, hives or honey. They are cavity dwellers. The tube-shaped reeds of the hotels provide ideal quarters.
“Native bees want an opening on one end and the other end closed,” Anderson said. “The native bee goes in and builds a chamber. A mason bee uses some mud. Leafcutter bees use pieces of leaves. They start at the back of the tube and create a chamber, lay an egg and leave a pollen nectar loaf for the embryo to eat when it emerges. They close up the chamber and then create another chamber and another and another.”
Insect hotels are relatively new to Colorado. “In Europe, they’re much more common,” Anderson said. “We added the first ones in 2012, just a few small ones. In 2014, we put the bigger ones up to support pollinators and also to raise awareness about native bees. ”
Whether an environmental hobby or a science fair project, offering hospitality to native bees requires some maintenance. The end game for some is harvesting bee cocoons to add to the pollinator population that regenerates the plant kingdom and the planet itself. Life depends upon pollinators.
“As we learn more, insect hotels are more complicated to have. Don’t just put them up and forget them. The main thing in late winter or early spring is to make sure to put fresh new tubes in for bees to nest in,” said Anderson.
“Toward the end of the season, bring tubes inside to help protect bees over winter. If we bring them in, they’re not as vulnerable to predators like squirrels or parasitic wasps. Put the tubes in an unheated garage or shed in winter — someplace dark and cool, but not too cold or hot,” Anderson said.
“Native bees can survive on their own, but we’re supporting them,” she added. “I just love discovering all of this and seeing all the native bees right around us.”