What we learned at the CATS Bees Forum
Our forum presenter on October 4th was a well-known bee educator, Kristen Penhall. Her passion for bees has grown during her ten years of study and she inspired us to see what we can do to help save our bee populations.
We have 800 native bee species in Canada. To help them thrive, Kristen had many suggestions for us – some are common sense (do not use pesticides) and some were new to us (where to cut stems on our garden plants as some are habitat for bees).
Some of our favourite recommendations include:
A messy garden provides more opportunities for bees to thrive – leave your leaves!
Bees often nest in the ground and a better ground cover for us to plant is clover, which can be seeded into your grassy lawn.
When it’s time to tidy up the garden a little, don’t cut back in the early spring as bees may still be nesting. Leave 1 to 2 feet of stem instead of cutting down to the ground.
Plant native plants whenever possible and encourage pollinator meadows on our boulevards and in our community gardens.
What and when we plant pollinators is very important. Kristen shared a guide prepared by the Native Bee Society of BC. Seasonal choices are recommended. Spring flowers include Salmonberry, Lupin, Red Flowering Currant and Pussywillow. For bees in summer, plant Wild Bee Balm, Brown-eyed Susan, Yarrow and Douglas Aster. Late summer flowers that attract bees include Purple Cone Flower, Goldenrod and Fireweed.
The Cathedral CATS have copies of the seasonal guide and there is also a link here: BC Native Bees | Seasonal Forage Guide
Bees are climate heroes. We can help them.