Did you know that trees provide most of the surplus nectar and pollen for bees? Or that 5 or 6 trees produce as much nectar and pollen as a whole field of wildflowers?
Most people don’t. That’s unfortunate because planting a tree, especially in an urban area, is one of the most effective things you can do to help save the bees.
What types of trees do bees like?
Some of the more common bee-beloved trees are Chestnuts, Hollies, Black Locusts, Hawthorns, Lindens (Limes in Europe), Oaks, Black Gums, Maples, Buckeyes, Mountain Ashes, Catalpas, Dogwoods, Redbuds, Hazels, Magnolias,Poplars, Sycamores, Tulip Trees and Willows. They also love all types of fruit trees!
All of these trees are available for an amazingly reasonable price (about $6 for many) at The Arbor Day Foundation. If you become a member, they will send you ten trees for free!
The fact that it’s winter is no excuse for inaction. It’s the best time to plant trees!!
So plant some trees and save some bees. You’ll feel great when you do!!
Related articles
- The Five Plants Bees Love Best (romancingthebee.com)
- Trees memorializing Newtown shooting victims planted in SLC cemetery (fox13now.com)
Any ideas that go along with xeriscape landscaping. We live in the desert, and we finally gave up trying to have a lush yard. Too much water with our extreme summer heat! I have feeders for my birds, but what can I do to encourage healthy bee populations?
The Xerces Society for pollinator preservation has some great plant lists! See http://www.xerces.org/pollinators-southwest-region/ They encourage native plants rather than imports, which I think is best.
I hope this helps!!
P.S. But for a tree, you can’t go wrong with Ironwood… 🙂
and dead fall makes excellent walking sticks …
It’s a very popular wood, and should be replanted!! 🙂
Reblogged this on MisBehaved Woman and commented:
Trees + Bees = A Happy Space 🙂
Reblogged this on bearspawprint.
This is great, have you shared on London Beekeepers FB page – they are always interested in pro forage news!
That’s a great idea!!
Ming has been trimming old branches off some of our trees and we suddenly have an influx of bees. Yay!
That’s great!! I hope he didn’t get stung though!!
xo Deb
[…] Reblogged from Romancing the Bee: Did you know that trees provide most of the surplus nectar and pollen for bees? Or that 5 or 6 trees produce as much nectar and pollen as a whole field of wildflowers? Most people don't. That's unfortunate because planting a tree, especially in an urban area, is one of the most effective things you can do to help save the bees. Read more… 142 more words Comments RSS feed […]
[…] Plant A Tree And Save Some Bees! […]
Excellent list, there! I think most people may first think of fruit trees for bees but there are so many more.
And the honey from trees is my favorite!!
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment!
xo Deb
Interesting, I didn’t know this. I noticed Poplar on your list. mmmmm, up north we have a lot of them and they are not too popular. The sticky buds in spring get on your pets then your floors, maybe your furniture and a lot of people are deadly allergic. We lived in the country for years and my poor hubby would be stuffed up for weeks, when the poplar bloomed, it’d be a snow storm of fuzz. Luckily your list is long and I see some other varieties that might work well here too, although we are only a zone 3…darn it anyways 😦 Thanks for visiting my blog. 🙂
One of my favorite trees is the Black Locust which is fast growing and hardy in Zone 3!
Oh, thanks so much for that tip. I will need to look it up. We don’t currently have a yard…sold our house and have been looking for over a year…hopefully we will have luck this spring. I really miss a yard.
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