How to make a pollinator garden

BC is home to over 450 species of native, wild bees. They contribute to pollination of our gardens, food crops, and wild ecosystems. Creating a bee garden is one of the best things you can do to support our native bees, since much of their habitat is being destroyed for human uses such as agriculture and housing. The main priorities of a pollinator garden are providing food and nesting sites for different types of bees. 

Here are some guidelines to get you started on your own garden. Even keeping a few pots of bee-friendly flowers on your balcony will help the bees! 

Priorities in a Bee Garden

1. Plant native plants
Native plants and native bees have co-evolved together. Native bees may not be able to access non-native flowers, so focus on native plants in a bee garden (although non-native plants and weeds can be incredibly important, too! See below) Heavily hybridized flowers often stop producing nectar and pollen making them useless for bees. 

2. Don't use pesticides 
Never use pesticides on your garden. Insecticides and fungicides have been found to be extremely dangerous to bees. 
Ask the managers of wherever you buy your plants and seeds from if they use neonicitinoids. These insecticides infiltrate all parts of the plant, including nectar and pollen, and either kill the bees outright, or affect them sub-lethally by interfering with their learning and memory, reproduction, etc. This is becoming a very hot topic, with neonics recently being found to be dangerous to other wildlife too. Growing plants from seed or cuttings is a good way to avoid planting neonic plants. 

3. Continuous flowering
Plan your garden to have something flowering at all times. Bees need to eat every day, so try to provide flowers at all times of the season. Early and late flowering plants are especially beneficial. 

4. Diversity of flower colours, shapes, and sizes 
Native bees are a diverse bunch! From large fuzzy bumblebees to tiny slick sweat bees, you can bet each type of bee will have its favourite type of flower. Cover your bases and plant a diverse array of flowers. 

5. Plant large patches of a single flower
It's easier for bees to forage if they can stick to a single species in an area. If you can't plant in large patches, don't fret, a single plant of one species if better than none! 

6. Provide nest sites and materials 
Native bees nest in a variety of ways. Some like to live in holes in the ground, some nest in hollow stems, some in holes in wood, bumblebees will nest in abandoned rodent holes and birdhouses or at the base of ferns.... Ground nesting bees like bare, compact, undisturbed, well-draining soil in a variety of orientations from steeply sloping to flat. You can dig a pit and fill it with sand to create softer ground for bees, too. Plant grasses with hollow stems, and leave dead plants with hollow stems intact over the winter. Piles of hollow stems can be made to provide nesting areas. 

You can also make nests for solitary bees and bumblebees. Click here for more info from the Xerces Society. You can even make a insect hotel that is freestanding or mounted on a wall. 

7. Providing water
Provide a water container filled with rocks so the bees can climb down to the water easily. I have also observed bees drinking from moist soil and mud. 

Garden Management Strategies

8. Let the weeds live!
Flowering weeds in the garden or lawn are great for bees! Clover, dandelions, etc. are fantastic. Let your lawn grow long, and let the weeds flower before you mow or pull them. 

9. Leave vegetables to flower
Let garden plants bolt and flower before pulling them out. Brassicas such as kale make especially nutritious pollen. The bees will thank you! 

Plant List
Here is a list I have compiled from various sources that would be suitable for our area. Check out the resources below for more plant suggestions!  

Trees
Maple
Linden
Fruit trees
Nut trees

Shrubs
Nootka rose, Rosa nutkana
Rhododendron
Willow, Salix spp. (an important early bloomer)
Elderberry, Sambucus spp. 
Black Twinberry
California lilac, Ceanothus spp. 
Escallonia spp. 
Hardhack, Spirea douglasii
​Huckleberry
Ocean spray, Holodiscus discolor
Oregon Grape, Mahonia spp. (an important early bloomer)
Red flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum
Red Osier Dogwood
Salal
Salmonberry
Saskatoon, Amelanchier alnifolia
Shrubby veronica, Hebe pinguifolia 'Pagei’
Snowberry
Thimbleberry
Trailing blackberry

Flowers/Herbs Under 30 cm
Clover, white
Clover, red and crimson
Crocus spp. 
Dandelion
Thyme, Thymus spp. (including creeping thyme)
Sea blush, Plectritis congesta
Sedum spp. 
Snow drops, Galanthus spp. 
Strawberry
Thrift, Armeria maritima

Flowers/Herbs Over 30 cm
Alfalfa
Alyssum spp. 
Aster spp. (e.g. Douglas aster)
Basil
Bee balm, Monarda spp. (especially lemon bee balm!)
Bellflower, Campanula spp. 
Borage
Calendula
California poppy
Catnip
Chives, Allium schoenoprasum
Cilantro
Columbine, Aquilegia spp
Comfrey
Tickseed, Coreopsis spp. 
Cotoneaster spp. 
Cranesbill, Germanium macrorhizum, Geranium cantabrigiensis ‘Cambridge’
Douglas aster, Aster subspicatus
Coneflower, Echinacea
Blanket flower, Gaillardia spp. 
Fireweed
Giant hyssop, Agastache spp. 
Goldenrod (contrary to popular belief, this plant does not cause allergies, but ragweed does)
Heather, Calluna vulgaris
Hollyhock, Alcea
*Lavender
Lupin, Lupinus
Marshmallow, Malva spp
Moldavian Dragon Head
Pearly Everlasting
Penstemon ‘mexicali’
Pieris japonica (important early bloomer)
Purple toadflax, Linaria purpurea
Rosemary
Sainfoin
Salvia spp. - Many are wonderful for bees! 
Sea holly, Eryngium maritimum
Speedwell, Veronica spicata
Sunflower
Tall and short grasses (species tbd)
Threadleaf phacelia, Phacelia linearis
Verbena bonariensis
Veronica
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
Zinnia

Fantastic Resources for Plants and General Bee Information
Xerces Society
Earthwise Society 
SFU Pollination Ecology Lab 
David Suzuki Foundation
Book: Victory Gardens for Bees by Lori Weidenhammer (Vancouver local!)