Bee-friendly seeds: Support bees

Colorful summer flowers and delicious vegetables can delight not only you, but also bees. We give you tips on all things bee-friendly seeds.

Active bee protection is promoted by nature conservation associations and politics, as bees not only influence beekeepers and agriculture, but also the health of entire ecosystems. An important area of ​​bee protection is the range of different bee forage plants. There are also varieties of annual summer flowers and vegetables that promote bees. This article therefore deals with bee-friendly seeds and explains why it makes sense to use them.

What does "bee-friendly" mean?

To fly Bees a brightly colored flower, they expect a calyx filled with stamens and pollen, from which they can absorb nectar. In return, they carry the pollen in their hair or on other parts of the body to the next flower. Bee-friendly plants - or “bee fodder plants” - are accessible to bees, have a lot of nectar and bloom particularly often or for a long time. Plants that can donate nectar at special times are also very “bee-friendly”. After all, in early spring and autumn, food sources for bees are difficult to find. The complementary flowering times of different bee forage plants thus ensure the nutrition of the bees over the entire vegetation period.

But it does happen that the flower that is being controlled does not hold any nectar at all for the bee: some Garden plants are simply too exotic and their flower structure is designed in such a way that bees do not get the nectar reachable. Many ornamental plant varieties are sterile through breeding, they lack pistils, stamens, pollen and nectar. Agricultural cultivation in monocultures is also not bee-friendly. As a result, only a few plant species can be found in the bees' catchment area. This becomes a problem if these do not cover the bees' entire flight period (February to October). Also, feeding bees with just one type of pollen is not very beneficial.

Summary: What does "bee-friendly" mean?

• Plants are bee-friendly if their nectar is accessible to bees, which bloom for a long time, produce a lot of nectar or which offer food for bees at special times.
• The flowering period of bee forage plants should cover the entire collection period of the bees.
• Plants whose flowers are not accessible to bees or which do not provide nectar cannot be used by bees. Bees also do not get too unbalanced or irregular nutrition from large-scale monocultures.

Why is bee-friendly seeds important?

Beekeepers and agriculture, including fruit and vegetable growing, depend on the populations of honey and wild bees being as stable and healthy as possible. Because they make the fruit set possible through their pollination performance - together with bumblebees. Without pollination, many plants will not multiply and thus will not produce any fruit. The honey bee pollinates around 80% of the local crops. Both honey bees and wild bees are therefore an irreplaceable and indispensable factor for our agriculture and nutrition.

However, various factors threaten both honey bee populations and wild bee populations. One factor are the above-mentioned monocultures and the “cleared” cultivated landscapes, which have only a low diversity of beehive plants. Sowing bee-friendly seeds can help promote honeybees and wild bees. Why it generally makes sense Bees in your own garden to promote, you can read here.

Tip: Providing forage plants is a step in the right direction. But if you want to go a little further and actively protect bees, you can get tips for a Bee paradise in the garden to fetch. Or you can get advice from a hobby beekeeper and learn how to do it Bees in the garden be able to promote and protect more comprehensively. Particularly committed can also get involved from the 1st April 2019 to Nationwide planting competition organized by the "Germany is buzzing" initiative Log In.

Which bees are threatened?

While honey bees now have a huge group of supporters in the form of beekeeping, the With agriculture and politics behind them, the wild bees are unfortunately often overlook. The honey bee does not have an easy time of it, but because of its important status it is so strongly promoted that its complete extinction is hardly an option. However, nature is in no way dependent on honeybees, wild bees could also pollinate. These are often even disadvantaged and further decimated by the collecting work of the honeybees. For this reason, the protection of wild bees should also be given greater focus.

What should you look out for when buying seeds?

When purchasing any seed, keep the following in mind:

• Does the plant that emerges from the seed supply nectar at all? For bees, of course, only those plants are important that reproduce through insect pollination. Everything that is colorful and smells is interesting for bees.
• Does the seed bear a mark that identifies it as a bee forage plant, or is an alternative available with this mark? Many seed dealers point to particularly bee-friendly plant varieties.
• Wouldn't seeds from native plants be a good alternative? The native wild bees are best adapted to these.
• Does the seed cover the entire bee flight season (February to October)?
• Are the seeds suitable for the location where you will sow them?

Our Plantura bee pasture meets all of these criteria. It contains over 20 annual and perennial proven species that provide bees with a rich supply of food. The easy-care mixture can simply be sown in the bed or in the balcony box.