You can support the vital work that bees do by creating a bee-friendly garden! By providing food, shelter and safe habitat for our buzzing friends, you’ll also improve the health and success of your garden– especially if you grow herbs, vegetables and flowers.

There’s nothing quite so thrilling as spotting species of native bees in your garden that you haven’t seen there before. Follow the tips below to bee-come a biodiversity champion and watch your garden buzz with life! 

Provide a Variety of Food Sources Throughout the Seasons

The two important keys to remember when planting for bees are:

1. Plant a wide variety of food sources

2. Ensure a continuous supply of food throughout the year

Bees need a variety of food sources throughout the seasons. Just like humans, it’s important for bees to eat a varied diet to get all the nutrients they need to stay healthy and strong. By ensuring your garden always has a source of pollen-rich food throughout the year, you’ll help bees make it through the hunger gaps.

Native bee on a native pea! Coral-Pea Hardenbergia violaceae image by Rudie Kuiter.

Choose Flowers that Bees Love

Not all flowers are equal in the eyes of a bee. Some flowers are especially attractive because of their size, shape or amount of nectar. Remember that different bee species have different preferences, so aim for a variety of shapes, sizes and flowering times.

WA Native Flowers for Native Bees

Many native plants are great for attracting our native bees as well as other pollinators. Eucalyptus, Banksia, Callistemon and Melaleuca are all fantastic plant groups because they produce lots of pollen and nectar. Some Acacia species, particularly the wattles, are packed with pollen too. Other awesome WA natives for your bee-friendly garden include: Hardenbergia, Westringia, Eremophila, Jacksonia, Grevillea and Hakea.

Other Flowers for Bees and Pollinators

• Annual Flowers: Consider growing some annual flower seeds in your veggie patch, especially if they are edible, medicinal or bring you joy. Daisies, calendula, marigold, sweet alyssum, cornflower and borage are all popular with bees and edible by humans too.

• Companion Plants: Plants such as borage and comfrey are a magnet for bees and are also a beneficial companion plant in the orchard for attracting beneficial predatory insects such as lacewings.

• Herb and Vegetable Flowers: Consider letting some of your herbs and veggies go to flower. Basil, mint, fennel, dill, rosemary, rocket, mustard, coriander and alliums are all attractive to bees.

• Fruit Trees: Bees also enjoy the blossoms on fruit trees and are in fact a necessity for fruiting trees, such as apple and plum trees that require cross pollination in order to produce fruit.

• ‘Weeds’ or Volunteer Plants: Consider leaving weedy flowers in place where possible, especially if you notice the bees are enjoying them. Nasturtium, dandelion, white clover and cape daisies are all popular with bees.

Honey bees enjoying borage and allium flowers in the garden.

Avoid Using Pesticides and Herbicides

Cut out the use of toxic chemicals in your garden which can cause harm to bees, other beneficial insects and pollinators. Keep in mind even those insecticides labelled as organic or eco friendly, generally do not discriminate and can be harmful to bees and other pollinating insects. Opt for natural pest management strategies instead.

Provide Shelter and Habitat for Bees

Different bees have different nesting needs and habits. Aim to provide a range of habitat opportunities throughout your garden such as:

• Dead Timber: Carpenter bees nest in soft dead timber, so leaving bits of wood around the garden can offer habitat opportunities.

• Hollow Stems: Some bees such as reed and masked bees nest in hollow or pithy stems. You can mimic their natural habitat by bundling up pieces of bamboo or lantana cane together.

• Holes Drilled in Wood: Resin bees, leaf-cutter bees and solitary wasps will nest in large drilled holes in wood, which mimic the natural cavities produced by wood-boring insects.

• Bare Earth: Some pollinators such as solitary bees and wasps nest in the ground and find it hard to dig through the thick layers of mulch. Leave a few patches in your garden bare or with only a fine covering of mulch such as a straw mulch to help them out.

• Rockeries: Small cavities in rockeries or layers of rolled bark offer shelter for resin bees as well as ladybirds and other pollinators.

• Bee Hotels: A bee or insect hotel is a safe habitat for solitary bees, butterflies, ladybirds and other beneficial insects which will improve biodiversity and integrated pest management in a garden. You can design and make your own, or explore our collection of Insect Hotels.

Hollow bamboo stems on this bee hotel provide habitat for native bees such as resin bees, leaf-cutter bees and masked bees.

Provide Safe Access to Water

Water is a necessity for all pollinators including bees. Other insects, birds and small reptiles will also thank you. Follow these tips to ensure safe access to water:

• Provide a range of water dishes to accommodate the different wildlife in your garden. A shallow dish is ideal for insects and bees to drink from. 

• Place water dishes in the shade where they won’t heat up, especially in the summer months. 

• Top up regularly with fresh, clean water especially in the summer months when evaporation is high. Clean out containers that are looking dirty or green.

• Place a large rock, sticks or pebbles to reduce the risk of insects drowning and make the water more accessible. 

• Add a tiny bit of salt to your water to attract bees – this is why they hang around our swimming pools in summer so much!

Sticks and stones in a shallow water dish can help bees safely access the water.

Maintain Your Bee-Friendly Garden

Healthy soil with plenty of organic matter will grow healthy, nectar-rich plants to support bees and other pollinators. Water appropriately and use natural pest management techniques when things get out of balance. Bees will thrive when your garden ecosystem as a whole is healthy.

Where to from here?

• Read our article Native Bees – Most Welcome Visitors to the Garden (written by Rod Hughes) for a more in depth look at supporting native bees in our gardens.

• Check out the work by Dr Kit Prendergast who is a bountiful source of knowledge on WA native bees. Her book Creating a Haven for Native Bees is a great resource.

• Stock up on Pollinator Friendly Flower Seed Packs or come in store and browse our collection of WA Heirloom Seeds.

• Explore our range of Insect Hotels and Bird Houses

• Discover the other beneficial insects in Perth gardens