The bee-friendly garden

In short: With a few changes a garden becomes a paradise for wild and honey bees: variety of flowers from spring to autumn, nesting sites and no poisons.

In more detail: In Germany there are about 580 wild bee species; many are endangered.

In detail

• Native plants: Wild carrot, viper’s bugloss, sage, thyme, lavender, willows, fruit trees.
• Single flowers: Double cultivated forms offer hardly any nectar and pollen.
• Succession of flowering: Crocus and willow in spring, lavender in summer, ivy and asters in autumn (aussaat-und-pflanzzeiten).
• Nesting aids: Deadwood, open sandy spots, insect hotel with holes in hardwood (insekten-und-bestaeuber).
• Allow wilderness: Do not tidy every corner, create a wildflower meadow (wildblumenwiese-anlegen).
• No pesticides: Also check “bee-friendly” labels.
• Water: Shallow drinking place with stones.
• Lawn: Mow less often, leave islands standing (rasen-pflegen).