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| Australian Honey Bee |
Honeybees collect pollen and nectar from plant flowers as their source of food. Not all plant flowers are equally liked by bees -
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| Tassie Bumble Bee |
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| Teddy Bear Bee |
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| Metallic Carpenter Bee |
When you want to attract bees to your backyard and also improve our bees' quality of life you can do that by planting a variety of plants bees just love to visit. Honeybees usually forage within a radius of three kilometres, so if you don't have any bees yourself, someone within a radius of 3km might have a hive or two, and then there are the feral bee colonies -
If you already have some bee-
To help you establish a backyard with bee-
In most cases space is limited and you cannot plant dozens of trees and bushes -
If you already have some bee-
To help you establish a backyard with bee-
In most cases space is limited and you cannot plant dozens of trees and bushes -
A number of herbs and vegetables attract bees with their flowers apart from being useful in
your kitchen. Every bee-
your kitchen. Every bee-
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| Australian Native Bee |
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| Cloak & Dagger Cuckoo Bee |
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| Native Stingless Bee |
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| Blue Banded Native Bee |
| Annuals Allysum Asters Calliopsis Clover Forget Me Nots Marigolds Nasturtiums Poppies Sunflowers Zinnias | Perennials Buttercups Clematis Cosmos Crocuses Dahlias Echinacea English Ivy Foxglove Geraniums Germander Globe Thistle Hollyhocks Hyacinth Rock Cress Roses Sedum Snowdrops Squills Tansy Yellow Hyssop | Fruits & Veggies Blackberries Cantaloupe Cucumbers Fruit Trees Peppers Pumpkins Raspberries Squash Strawberries Watermelons Wild Garlic Zucchini | Herbs Basil Bee Balm Bergamot Borage Catnip Chives Coriander Fennel Lambs Ear Lavender Mints Oregano Rosemary Sage Tansy Thyme | Shrubs Blueberry Butterfly Bush Button Bush Honeysuckle Indigo Salvia Privet | Trees Alder American Holly Basswood Black Gum Black Locust Bottle Brush Buckeyes Catalpa Eastern Redbud Grevillea Golden Rain Hawthorns Hazels Linden Magnolia Maples Mountain Ash Poplar Sycamore Tulip Willows |
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| Sunflowers |
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| Calendula |
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| Lavender |
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| Borage |
5 Steps To Attract Bees |
Cut Back (or Out) Lawn Pesticides and Fertilizers
Many common lawn and garden chemicals are lethal to bees, while others may weaken their immune systems, allowing parasites, disease or other stresses to finish them off. Instead, switch to a strategy of integrated pest management or opt for natural, organic fertilizers and biological controls.
Cultivate Bee-Friendly Plants
Just as many plants need bees for pollination, bees need plants for nectar and pollen. Not anything green will do, however. In fact, bees tend to be attracted to blue, purple and yellow flowers. Consult with your local nursery to select appropriate varieties for your area . Research shows gardens with 10 or more bee-friendly plants support the most visitors.
Let There Be Weeds
Many common weeds, such as dandelions and clover, are popular with bees. Go ahead and let some flower, then to keep things tidy, pull them up after they've gone to seed.
Avoid Mulch Madness
Many native bees tunnel and live in the soil, but can be blocked by heavy layers of woodchips or plastic liners. Learn to edge your lawn tastefully without completely shutting out bees.
Help Your Town Protect Bee Habitat
Some of the biggest threats to bees are urban sprawl and intensive land management. But you can reduce this trend by volunteering to plant wildflowers and other native vegetation along roadways and other common areas, and advocating for smart growth and sensible limits to development where you live.
Dangerous mite threatens billion-dollar bees
There are fears that Australia's bees, which help pollinate up to $4 billion worth of crops each year, may be at risk of exposure to a dangerous mite that could devastate the fruit and vegetable industries.
Australia is the only remaining honey-producing country in the world not exposed to the varroa mite which wipes out 20 to 30 per cent of the bee populations it encounters.
Across the world apiarists have thrown everything at the mite, but all in vain. It is feared it will inevitably enter Australia, with the weakest spots being ports in north Queensland.
If the mite enters Australia it could infest all eastern states within five years.
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council spokesman Trevor Weatherhead says bees are incredibly important to a number of agricultural industries.
"Canola and sunflower - for the seed production of that - they need bees for pollinating," he said."And then you've got all your cucurbit family, the watermelons, pumpkins, rockmelons, honeydews. Again they need honey bees for pollination and if you don't have bees you don't get a crop."
Mr Weatherhead says the import danger zone is north Queensland.
"Just as a reminder that we have that threat from the north all the time and we need our quarantine people to be very watchful," he said.
"We've had cane toads, we've had rabbits in Australia, and this certainly will have a bigger impact on the economy than cane toads and rabbits will - that's for sure."
Danger zones
Queensland is the front line of the bee threat. Last month, quarantine workers found a swarm of 250 Asian honey bees on a ship at the Port of Townsville. The bees were identified via video-link in Brisbane. Queensland quarantine workers then hit the streets near the port searching for more bees.
Local residents were given containers to trap any bees they saw and given details of a hotline to call.
Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald says three weeks after one bee was found, he is still waiting for authorities to deal with the issue.
He also says Biosecurity Queensland has recently cut jobs.
"Twenty vets have been dismissed in January and February and I'm concerned that Queensland is at risk because the Queensland Government doesn't have sufficient personnel to do what they need to do," he said.
Biosecurity Queensland has informed the ABC that the bee is a common European bee and not an Asian Honey Bee.
The department is currently investigating the response time, and says it has changed hotline procedures so it won't happen again.
Significant
The department responsible says two vets are among 21 Biosecurity Queensland staff who are taking voluntary redundancies.
They will be replaced, but it is unclear when.
Workers on Thursday went to the Townsville house where the bee was found after PM asked the department about the lack of response.
It said the case was the only one not dealt with from 371 hotline calls in the past three months.
Senator Macdonald says the job cuts are significant.
"A lot of this information is coming from within the department itself, from people who are very concerned at the cutback in biosecurity staff," he said.
Asian honey bees were found to the north in Cairns a few years ago.
They did not have varroa mites and authorities have given up trying to eradicate the pests in favour of trying to contain them.
PS, its now the next day after posting this Blog. Staggering home from work last night, I just happened to catch the late episode of the 7 pm Report on Ch 10. I was very excited to see them do a section on the grave situation of bees. Huzzah I thought, something worthwhile, rather than celebrity news & other rubbish. I am still steaming after watching with my mouth open, aghast.
Yes, the world has a real problem with bees, including the dreaded hive collapse. But then they went on to say that scientists have no idea why! Pesticides maybe, not sure, it's a real puzzle, they reported. Not one mention of the deadly varroa mite, or Asian bees, or the over use of insecticides & pesticides. Or the fact that suburban bee hives are being set up, by amateurs, with no idea of the continuing needs of the bees ie: enough plants & flowers around to feed them, keeping them disease free. Rooftop hives are becoming very popular, however, it is very unnatural for bees to fly up & up & up , expending vast amounts of energy, to reach these hives.
There are MANY reasons why our bees are dying. But the 7PM Report did not report any of them. Sloppy reporting at its worst.
Happy Grubbing
Tam
PS, its now the next day after posting this Blog. Staggering home from work last night, I just happened to catch the late episode of the 7 pm Report on Ch 10. I was very excited to see them do a section on the grave situation of bees. Huzzah I thought, something worthwhile, rather than celebrity news & other rubbish. I am still steaming after watching with my mouth open, aghast.
Yes, the world has a real problem with bees, including the dreaded hive collapse. But then they went on to say that scientists have no idea why! Pesticides maybe, not sure, it's a real puzzle, they reported. Not one mention of the deadly varroa mite, or Asian bees, or the over use of insecticides & pesticides. Or the fact that suburban bee hives are being set up, by amateurs, with no idea of the continuing needs of the bees ie: enough plants & flowers around to feed them, keeping them disease free. Rooftop hives are becoming very popular, however, it is very unnatural for bees to fly up & up & up , expending vast amounts of energy, to reach these hives.
There are MANY reasons why our bees are dying. But the 7PM Report did not report any of them. Sloppy reporting at its worst.
Happy Grubbing
Tam
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