Could i help the bee's?

Question

ok well i have a garden that has alot of flowers, i was just wondering is there anything i could buy to help out the local bee's, butterflies, ladybirds and any other little helpful little bug? i dont mind spending money on em..

any tips would be great.. thanks

Answer 1

Just keep all chemicals off the flowers

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Don't put tons of soil conditioner in the ground that will effect the flowers

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Lastly keep pets and people away from the flowers when the bee is feeding on them.

Answer 2

Lots of bees and lacewings are solitary and need sites to overwinter safely. By a bee box, or tie lots of hollow canes together and attach them to a tree or fence around 2 metres up. For butterflies grow buddleiah and honeysuckle and you can provide "wine ropes" or "sugar ropes" to feed them.

No pesticides please. Grow native plants and avoid fancy hybrids. Look into the stuff from the National Insect Week for more insect friendly gardening tips.  

Answer 3

Just having a garden with a lot of variety is already a huge help to them, as long as you don't spray it with insecticides. Bees are most attracted to gardens that have at least 10 different types of bee-friendly flowers, preferably planted in bunches or swales of similar flowers, rather than one plant here, one plant there, etc.

For butterflies, it's important to have both nectar and the larval food plants. Butterflies tend to be a lot pickier than bees or birds about whether a plant is native to the area - there are some generalists, but a lot of caterpillars can only eat plants native to their regions, so plant as many native species as you can.

There are lots of books that can help choose plants for birds and butterflies. A good one I read recently was Bringing Nature Home, by Doug Tallamy. Also check out: http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/

For bees, here are a few useful resources:

http://hubpages.com/hub/beegarden

http://ww2.attra.ncat.org/index.php/nati...

http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegarde...

http://www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_...

They are USA based, but the principles will be the same, even if the plants aren't. I'm assuming you're British, based on the "mum?" A quick search turned up this page with info on British efforts to help bees: http://forests.org/archive/europe/giveab...