Tis The Season—For The Bees

Tis the season, so here is an idea for a handmade gift for the gardener in your life.

- Caroline Spear

In fact, this is a double gift, one that will please both your gardener and our native bees, the best pollinators we have here. According to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Bees are essential for maintaining the integrity, productivity and sustainability of many types of ecosystems: the forest understory, pastures, fields, meadows, roadsides, many agricultural crops, fruit orchards and backyard vegetable and flower gardens.”

In Maine, we have six bee families and more than 270 species of native bees. Because of their importance to the natural world, this gift will improve their habitat, “providing nest sites and forage plants, to help them survive, thrive, reproduce and pollinate.” (Extension Bulletin #7153, Understanding Native Bees.)