• Home
  • About
  • Calendar
  • Plant Database
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Board of Trustees Login

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

Become a Member Donate
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Trails and Maps
  • Programs and Events
  • Learn
  • Get Involved
You are here: Home / Virtual Discovery Stations / Insects / Virtual Discovery Station: Native Bees

August 10, 2020 by volunteer

Virtual Discovery Station: Native Bees




Thanks to the generosity of the Justina Block and the Osmia Bee Company, Bernheim now has houses designed for this industrious little pollinator, the Blue Orchard Mason bee. One can be found near the front of the Education Center; the other in the Edible Garden near the smaller water garden.

 

Various native bee nesting sites located at the Education Center shade garden.

What to Observe and Questions to Ponder at Bernheim: The Virtual Discovery Station presented by Tammy Clements provides excellent guidelines on what to observe when investigating these bee shelters. Can you locate tubes in these bee shelters that the bees capped over with mud? Does the cap appear rough or smooth?  Do you see any evidence of trouble such as wasp hanging around? Do you wonder what those wasp have in mind?

At Home activities: Install a shelter for mason bees or leave dried stalks for bees to raise their young. Plant flowers rich in pollen for the bees, provide a source for water, and leave some exposed soil in your garden so that the bees can create mud they need to cap their nesting tubes.

Links for More Information:
Bernheim Pollinator: the Blue Orchard Mason Bee  
Twelve Things you can do to Support Native Bees

Filed Under: Insects

  • Let There Be Light, George Grey Bernard

Thank you to our Corporate Partners!


Thank you to our Corporate Partners!

  • WMB
  • Luckett & Farley
  • Quest Outdoors
  • Delta Dental KY
  • Patagonia
  • GE Appliances
  • Brown Forman
  • Westrock
  • Beam Suntory

Sign up for our newsletter

  • Sign up and receive special information about our programs and events.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FOLLOW US

Copyright © 2019 Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest    |   Bernheim is an Arbnet level 4 certified garden
Privacy Policy | Policies and Guidelines | Research | Press Room  | Site Map