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Home & Garden
T h e S Ta r P h o e n i x . c o M / B r i d g e S
Home Garden 2020 Saskatoon Spring
&
Guide
Bee friendly:
Invite leafcutter bees into your back yard BY CAROL T ODD
Ever wonder what those little blue “houses” are out in the fields as you drive down a prairie highway? They’re homes for leafcutter bees, the friendly little insects that are important to the development of many plants, helping them pollinate to get growing. Now they can come live by your home, too, bringing their benefits to the plants in your yard. Jed and Kathy Williams of Imperial, SK, provide backyard pollinator kits for homeowners to encourage pollination and plant growth. The Backyard Pollinator is an individual block of leafcutter bee nesting habitat, which contains bee larvae ready to hatch in warm weather. Homeowners simply place it in a dry, warm area and sit back and watch. Never fear – leafcutter bees are unlikely to sting unless trapped in clothing. They are solitary creatures, with no hive or queen to defend. With no hive, they also don’t make honey. What they do is provide a chance to watch nature at work, while giving the plants in your yard an extra pollination boost, making them healthier and
Leafcutter bees are known as super-pollinators because of the way they carry pollen in the hairs on their underside. This pollen easily drops off as they move from flower to flower. PH OTO: S H U T TE RS TO CK
Among the products offered by The Backyard Pollinator is this cedar pre-built solitary bee barn, with nesting block. P H O TO : TH E BACKYARD POL L I NATOR
more likely to produce better quality blooms and harvests. The Williams’ began their journey toward supplying homeowners with bees in Australia, where Jed grew alfalfa seed. After marriage to Kathy and moving to Saskatchewan, they began farming here in 2002 and keeping leafcutter bees to pollinate their alfalfa. Soon little blue bee houses sprouted in their fields along with the crop. They began selling their excess bees into, mainly, the United States market, before offering their bees to home-
owners. “The general public’s interest in bees has increased in the past few years and led us to explore the opportunities to sell our bees into the hobby market,” Jed says. The Williams now grow 6,000 gallons (60 million) of bees and their Backyard Pollinators are available at a number of retailers in addition to online. Leafcutter bees are known as super-pollinators because of the way they carry pollen in the hairs on their underside. This pollen easily drops off as they move from flower to flower. Leafcutter bees
are summer pollinators and like to fly and pollinate when the temperatures are 23°C and higher. In addition to flowers, they help pollinate summer-blooming garden plants such as cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes. “Many of our customers comment that they are noticing fewer bees in their gardens than in past years and they are happy to have a small amount of leafcutter bees in their yard,” says Jed. The Backyard Pollinator makes it easy to have leafcutter bees in your yard, Jed says. “As a solitary, non-aggressive species, there is no protective equipment required to observe and be around these bees,” he says. The nesting
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block must be kept dry – a sheltered location under an eave is good, Jed says, adding it requires patience for the bees to get going. “It takes 23 days at 30°C for the larvae to fully develop and hatch. We recommend putting the nesting blocks containing larvae outside on the May long weekend,” he says. If it’s a cool spring, the hatching will take longer. The nesting block, containing about 200 dormant larvae, is familiar to the bees and, with adequate food sources nearby they will almost always stay close and lay their larvae in the Backyard Pollinator for next year. Information on using and storing the Backyard Pollinator is included with every purchase.
With increased interest in the Backyard Pollinator, the Williams plan to continue to provide leafcutter bees to pollinate their own alfalfa for seed, and to bring great blooms and summer vegetables and herbs to homeowners. “There are people of all ages who have a great amount of interest in bees, and we’re pleased to increase the awareness of our leafcutter bees as a super pollinator,” Jed says. As evidence of that, in addition to being offered online, the Backyard Pollinator is now available at several retail outlets. And, that’s just the bee’s knees. More information is available online at backyardpollinator.ca.
BRING ON THE BEES!
There are numerous plants, annuals, perennials and even shrubs that will invite the bees into your garden. Chief among them is bee balm, also known as bergamot (Monarda), whose flowers come in a range of reds and pinks. Marshall’s Delight is fully hardy for our zone and, in addition to attacting bees, its leaves also make a nice tea. Other flowers that will have the busy insects making a bee-line for your yard include pansies, snowdrops, peonies, lavender, phlox, marigolds, sunflowers, snapdragons, liatris, black-eyed susans, lilacs, honeysuckle and many others. And don’t forget the herbs – the flowers of borage, thyme, chives, mint and oregano also attract bees.