The Buzz

MAKE YOUR GARDEN HOSPITABLE TO NATIVE BEES, AS WELL AS HONEY BEES, AND YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE PLENTY OF POLLINATORS

- Linda Brennan

Many of the bees you see buzzing around your garden, busily collecting nectar and pollen are Apis mellifera, or honey bees. The first hive of these foreign honey bees was brought to Tasmania from Liverpool, England, in 1821 on the ship Mary. But have you ever wondered who did the work of pollination before the European bees arrived?

A closer inspection of your garden will probably reveal a wide variety of native bees, working side by side with European honey bees, collecting and dispersing pollen and seeking nectar and resin. These bees, together with beetles, wasps, flies, butterflies, bats and birds, still pollinate our native plants and are pollinators for fruit, vegies and herbs.

SOCIAL AND SOLITARY BEES

We have an estimated 2000 species of native bees in Australia, each preferring a particular climatic and habitat range across the land. Some bees, such as the stingless Tetragonula and Austroplebeia species, are social bees, living in colonies of up to several thousand. They’re found in northern Australia and along the eastern seaboard south to the Victorian border.

Solitary bees such as Resin bees, Teddy Bear bees and Leafcutter bees are some of the more commonly found native bees. They lay their eggs in hollow plant stems, trees or mud banks. Some may make leaf or twig nests for their eggs. Making a bee hotel (as shown in Good Organic Gardening Vol. 6 No. 4) encourages them to nest in your garden, as does providing hollows in old trees for their nests.

THE NEED TO FEED