What You Can Do for Our Native Bees

What You Can Do for Our Native Bees

Did you know that Australia has over 1700 different species of native bees? While there are so many different little buzzing workers jumping from flower to flower, most fall into a few categories:
Stingless Social Bees, who make excellent honey:,

Carpenter Bees, some around 24mm long;,

Teddy Bear Bees, looking as cute as their name suggests, and

Blue Banded Bees, just like your friend Budget Bee.

Unfortunately, , our native populations are on the decline. This could cause a huge issues for our state, nation and the planet. So, why should we look after our precious native bees? And what can you do about it?

Budget Bee has some great tips to help bring back native bees.

The role of native bees

Life as we know it would be impossible if the world had no bees. That sounds dramatic, but most plants, including all of our food crops such as grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables rely on our little pollinators to grow, and many ecosystems rely on their hard work to function.

In South Australia, our native bees, especially the proud Blue Banded Bees, keep our native flora and the animals that are dependent on them, alive. Many plants, such as tomatoes, basil, chilli, or lavender, couldn’t grow without their particular form of ‘buzz pollination’ that the imported honeybees don’t perform.

If we no longer had our precious native bees, many native plants would die and farming would become much more difficult, if not impossible.

How can you help?

Preserving our native bees does feel like something beyond an individual’s reach.

But there are simple things that everyone can do to positively impact our native bee populations. Writing letters to your council and state government representative asking for less insecticide use in public spaces or buying local and organic produce, can help ensure that native bees survive.

But the best way that you can help our favourite little locals is by planting your very own bee-friendly garden.

A home for the bees

Get ready to build a cosy little garden for Budget Bee and his friends to visit?

The best thing to do for your new native bee friends is to grow plants native to your area. For South Australians, some of your best options for native plants are any Eucalypt or gum tree, Bottlebrushes, Melaleucas, tea trees, wattles, , bush-peas, native bluebell, goodenias, flax-lilies and sweet apple-berry. But that’s barely scratching the surface!

There are so many local plants in South Australia that you won’t have any trouble growing a beautiful garden everyone loves. To find the best plants to start with in your area, try this plant selector from the South Australian government. In a pinch, you could start with this wildflower for bees seed pack from Bee the Cure – an organisation devoted to saving our bee population in Australia.

Once your new seeds are ready to go, there are a few other things to consider.

Make sure you leave plenty of bare soil in your garden, as some bees – notably our favourite, blue-banded bee – love to burrow down into the ground to sleep.

Don’t pluck your weeds! Many native weeds like thistles or clovers are favourites for bees, and the variety is excellent for them.

Leave some water in a bowl, so that roving bees have somewhere to cool off and hydrate. You can place pebbles or stones, so the bees don’t get too wet.

Grow your garden in the sun. Bees love buzzing about in the sunlight – they appreciate a great spot just as much as your cat or dog!

You could try your hand at building a bee hotel. Many native bees love a little box they can nest in and leaving one there for your new friends can encourage them to hang around.

You may be concerned about native bees moving into your backyard due to past experiences with painful bee stings, but interestingly, many native bees don’t actually sting.

Finally, be sure to avoid pesticides or insecticides in your garden. If possible, buy organic seeds to avoid neonicotinoids (a particularly harmful toxin often found on treated seeds), as they can cause considerable problems to our existing bee populations.

And that’s the buzz from Budget Bee!

Our fair state relies on our native bee population working in the background of daily life to keep our ecosystems running as nature intended. By doing your best to provide a safe home for our bees, you could reduce the cost of produce, safeguard our country’s economy, and keep South Australia looking beautiful and unique.

If you’ve grown a beautiful native bee garden, or you’d love to hear more fantastic tips from Budget Bee, he’d love to see you on his Facebook page