What gardeners can do to help native bees
• Add native plants to your garden. (Many mainstream garden centers now include labeled sections for natives.)
• Plant fruits and vegetables. Pollinators like tomatoes and plants in the squash family, as well as apples, pears, cherries, plums and other fruits.
• Eliminate or reduce pesticide use.
• Maximize diversity in the landscape with plants like goldenrod, which provides pollen, and bee balm, which provides nectar; plant for a succession of bloom.
• In spring, look for small holes in the soil that indicate existing nests, and plant to provide them some cover.
• Leave logs or tree trunks on the ground. When cleaning up the garden in fall, leave about 15 inches of dead stems standing on pithy perennials to provide nesting for cavity-nesting pollinators.
