Plant Trees to Please the Honey Bees

Honey bees are an integral part of our food chain. They are dying off now for unknown reasons. That could cause huge problems with food production, as many foods need the pollination from bees to produce the food. Honeybees perform 80% of all pollination to help produce fruits and vegetables, notes Backyard Beekeepers.

Honey bees eat pollen from flowering trees and flowers. Thus, the more flowering trees that are planted the more food sources that will be available for the honey bee. Flowering trees are a beautiful addition to the yard and they provide sustenance for the honey bees.

Trees with Nectar for Honey Bees

Some good sources of nectar for honey bees include the tulip poplar tree, black locust tree, basswood tree and the holly tree, notes the Earth Observatory of NASA.

The Arbor Day Foundation also notes that the following trees help feed the honey bees: maples, oaks, redbud, crape myrtle, willow and crabapple. Planting some of these trees in your yard will do a lot to help the honey bees. To purchase tree seedlings go to ArborDay.org.

Start a Seed & Seedling Swap Club

One way to start helping to provide nectar for bees is to start a seed and seedling sharing club. Seeds are easy to find under trees and seedlings often sprout up near well established trees. Take a little time each weekend during the season when seeds are falling from the trees to collect them and store them in baskets or bottles to give out during a seed swap.

Then send out emails or make calls to friends to ask them to participate. On the day of the event you can set up a table for everyone who attends the event to place their seeds and seedlings there so later, after a meal or snack, everyone can take one or two of the seeds/ seedlings that appeal to them.

This is a nice social event. It will also help feed the honey bees. It is a nice feeling to plant seeds and seedlings to help the bees and the environment. Just think as your seed swap group continues to meet you may eventually plant hundreds or thousands of trees.

Another activity your swap group friends may want to participate in is donating tree seeds and seedlings to local schools. The students could use them to plant trees on the school grounds or in their own backyard.

Your seed swap group can also put up notices on local bulletin boards asking for seeds or seedlings to plant or donate to schools. You will likely get some donations. Most people with full-grown trees in the yard have some little seedlings growing near them in the spring. It just takes them a few minutes to dig them up and donate them.

Sources:

Backyard Beekeepers

Earth Observatory at NASA

Arbor Day