Honeybee
Apis mellifera
Role in the garden
Major pollination, production of honey and propolis.
Activity period
April to October
How to attract / manage it
To share the garden with it without keeping a hive: plant continuous nectar-rich flowers from April to October, and avoid any insecticide treatment, even organic (spinosad and pyrethrum are toxic to them).
Practical guide
Where to find them
All nectar- and pollen-bearing flowers of the garden. A colony can forage several kilometres from its hive (Visscher & Seeley, 1982), in mild weather and without rain. Easily identified: a hairy golden-brown bee, direct flight between flowers, a well-traced return to the hive.
Prevention
To protect them: zero insecticide (even organic, spinosad kills bees), zero fungicide during flowering, shallow water points with pebbles or floats so they can drink without drowning, flowers in continuous bloom from April to October, local species first.
Sources
- Visscher, P.K. & Seeley, T.D. (1982). Foraging strategy of honeybee colonies in a temperate deciduous forest. Ecology, 63(6).
- UC IPM (université de Californie) : Bee Precaution Pesticide Ratings, spinosad et pyréthrines (ipm.ucanr.edu)
Favourite plants / resources
Related plant entries
Lavender
A Mediterranean subshrub with evergreen grey foliage, true lavender forms structuring low edges and hedges that hold the dry garden together in full sun, on poor, dry, free-draining soils. Its summer flowering is among the most melliferous in the garden: it offers nectar and pollen at the height of summer, an often lean period, and draws honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies, the latter beneficial insects whose larvae devour aphids. A refuge for wild pollinators, it is traditionally planted along vegetable borders and near roses, its scent reputed to help diversify the surrounding odours. Drought-tolerant and hardy once established, it clothes rockeries, banks and paths without watering, while keeping its grey outline all year round.
Borage
An exceptional nectar plant, much visited by bumblebees and bees, it serves as a relay for pollinators at the edge of the vegetable garden.
Buckwheat
A green manure, a major nectar plant, improves the structure and stimulates the microbial life of the soil.
White clover
Like most Fabaceae, white clover captures nitrogen from the air to make it available to the soil, a nitrogen input documented by classical agronomy (Bourguignon, Le Sol, la Terre et les Champs). A low, creeping perennial, it forms a dense ground cover that limits weeds and protects soil life, and is among the nectar plants most visited by bees.