Did you know that although bees are not colorblind they see color in a completely different way than humans? Bees use UV light to locate their food sources and will zero in on flowering plants that bloom in their favorite colors (meaning those most visible to them), which are yellow, purple, blue, white, violet and mauve. Flowers in these color ranges get the most attention from bees! Look at this amazing photo of a flower under normal view, and then under UV light. What a way to direct bee traffic right to the pollen source! (Photo Credit: Zachary Huang, MSU) To attract bees to your yard, it would make sense to plan your garden to accommodate flowering plants and bushes that will bloom in these beautiful colors. And, to keep the fun going all year long, planting a garden with a variety of seasonal blooms, from spring to fall, will keep bees and other pollinators returning to your garden for for their meals time and time again.   Planting for an early spring show! One of our favorite plants that blooms from spring to fall but which makes an especially pretty early spring showing, is Sedum. Sedum can be purchased in pots and easily transplanted into your garden. The best time to plant sedum is in the spring—after the threat of frost but before it gets too warm. This is a very hardy plant resistant to drought, deer resistant (a big issue for us, being out in the “woods”) and naturally the honeybees love it! With so many varieties of Sedum to choose from, you’ll have to do your homework, but just know that these leafy plants with their colorful blooms are a favorite of all species of pollinators, including bees and butterflies. And, best of all, they are a perennial, so you will enjoy these blooms year after year. Other early spring blooms to consider for your pollinator-friendly garden (but which differ slightly depending on your area) are: Gold Heart Bleeding Heart, Lilac, Clematis and Royal Star Magnolia…just to name a few. And, don’t forget to leave those dandelions and clover alone…they are a very important first source of food for bees in early spring. Thinking ahead, if you’re planning to participate in #NoMowMay this year, where you leave a portion of your yard (or the whole thing!) unmowed, you could designate an area in early spring that you will let go wild, including the dandelions. We know that some people prefer a perfectly-manicured lawn, and this is a happy compromise and one that will benefit the pollinators!   Late spring through summer… this is the prime-time show! As the weather warms up, so does the pollinator activity! Honey bees are collecting from the flowers in their own neighborhoods, and filling their hives with uniquely-flavored honey. Again, varieties of sedum will continue to bloom throughout the summer months adding colorful beauty and a plethora of visiting pollinators to your garden. In more northern areas, you can still plant sedum successfully at this time, as long as the weather is still on the cooler side, which aids in the sedum’s ability to quickly fill in an area of your garden. Have fun with your color selection! Planting with intention is great for the pollinators, but you also want something that is beautiful and balanced for your own pleasure. There are many online resources for planning guides in your area, and a little homework will go a long way in your planning process. Other colorful favorites you should consider planting to keep a variety of pollinators visiting your yard throughout the warmer months are Thistle, which is an annual but a big favorite of pollinators due to the abundant nectar and pollen, and Coneflowers, which are perennials that are also heat and drought resistant, and very easy to grow! Coneflowers are easily one of our favorite flowers because they bloom for months, are beautiful to look at and attract so many species of bird and pollinator. They make gorgeous cut flowers as well, when you want to bring some of that luscious color inside. Blue Globe Allium is another plant that beckons the bees from far and wide with its stunning blue color because it really stands out under UV light! And we can’t forget Bee balm, which is aptly named because it really does attract the bees! It blooms mid-summer to early fall and makes a beautiful transitional plant for pollinator gardens.   The late show! Autumn is what we call the late show, which includes flowers that bloom late summer through early fall. Fall flowers give bees their last big hurrah of nectar and pollen for the year and make our gardens pop with color until the cold winter creeps in. Autumn Joy Sedum takes the stage during this time of year. It kicks off with beautiful displays of pinks and rose colors, which slowly fade to lovely russet and mauve shades. By pruning Autumn Joy Sedum, you can cause the plant to bloom later, thereby lengthening the flower show in your garden. There really is no way to go wrong with these pretty plants as they grow well in almost all types of soil, except those that are very mucky, or clay-like. Other fall flowers that will feed the bees and which get a thumbs-up from us are New England Asters, which start blooming in August but continue to bloom right through October, and the stately sunflower which does the same.   Gorgeous and contrasting colors work well in a pollinator garden so have fun and start planting. We would love to see what you come up with! Share garden pics with us at info@littlebeeofct.com. We just might promote your photo on Instagram or Facebook. Follow us at @littlebeeofct where we post daily on our favorite honeybee-related topics including pollinator gardens! To shop our all-natural, made-from-beeswax selection of products, visit our website. Thank you again for supporting Little Bee of CT and the busy beekeepers around the world!

Two weeks are left in this glorious spring month and we want to talk a little more about how not mowing your lawn, for just one month, can really allow the wildflowers to bloom, which in turn will support the bee, and other pollinator, population. Here in CT, the buzz of lawnmowers is a weekly thing! Whether you mow it yourself or hire a service, the lawns in our state are generally well maintained and have the appearance of a freshly groomed golf course. But, what happens to the first spring flowers such as dandelion, red clover, violets, grape hyacinth, to name a few? Well, they get mowed over, that’s what! By holding off on mowing, even for these last two weeks in May, you’d save some time and some money, as well as the amazing natural resources that pollinators depend on. In the UK, The original Plantlife No Mow May campaign (Every Flower Counts) discovered that 80% of lawns left wild supported approximately 400 bees a day. 20% of the un-mown lawns were supporting 10 times that number of bees! We’re still blown away by those numbers.   Now on to the Big 4!   First great reason for postponing mowing until June: A pause from mowing will give the wildflowers a chance to bloom and in turn nourish the bee population with a wider selection of nectar. The more wild flowers you have blooming on your lawn, the more types of pollen and nectar they will produce. It’s a win-win situation.   Second reason to let the lawn grow wild: Reports show that the highest number of wildflowers, and production of nectar sugar, was found on lawns that were mowed just once a month, or every four weeks. That’s great news and a very easy way to diversify your lawns. Once you see what pops up in the unmoved areas of your lawn, you might want to permanently designate an area as a no mow zone and nurture it as a wildflower garden.   The third reason to put the biggest lawn chore on hold for just a little longer: Allowing your lawn to rest, and thrive naturally, even for a few scant weeks, actually drives up local bee populations and bee diversity! Makes sense right? More abundant pollen-rich sources means more bees coming to the party. (And they’ll bring some friends!)   And the fourth and last reason to give yourself and the bees a break this May: Okay, this is two reasons combined into one. You will either save the actual time of mowing (and we all know what a CHORE that is, OR you will save the cost of one or two weeks of hiring a lawn service. Spend that time and money on yourself and your family. A surprise treat for everyone involved right?   Bonus reason: A reduction in noise pollution! Many neighborhoods are buzzing so loudly with lawn mowers that you can hardly hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing. A quiet weekend would be so welcomed!   Finding it very hard to end this blog post because… we have one more bonus BONUS reason for letting those wildflowers thrive: You can make some amazing recipes from dandelions. Check out this blog post and get creative with this very heart-healthy plant. We’ve also consistently sectioned off a portion of our yard and designated it as a No Mow Zone! We think our little bees are thanking us. :)    Check back here or visit us on Instagram or Facebook for updates.   As we mentioned in our prior #NoMowMay blog post from May 2020, bees are the livelihood of Little Bee of CT and so many other loyal beekeepers around the world. Without these busy, magnificent creatures, approximately one-third of our food supply would be jeopardized due to lack of cross-pollination. Don’t forget…not only do bees pollinate the food we eat directly, they also pollinate the wild plants, flowers, and clover used to feed the livestock our country depends on for meat. The pollination cycle is vast and has long-reaching implications if it’s interrupted.   Please share your results with us by mentioning us in your Instagram posts, or by sending us a message on Facebook. We’d love to see your photos and will choose our favorite to share on our social channels in June!  Thanks for supporting the bees and for supporting Little Bee of CT. Visit our site to learn more about our company and our products.

We are passionate about many things, and as you know, many of those things involve honey bees! The little honey bee, along with all the other pollinators we promote on our social channels and on our blog, are so very important to our food sources and the ecosystems that support life, that we want to share what we’ve been reading* on the subject of pollinator preservation and the use of harmful chemicals, herbicides and pesticides. First the scary stuff.   These Losses are Not Sustainable What do we fear? Total loss of our pollinators. Such loss is not sustainable and we won’t be able to reverse the devastation. Some facts…U.S beekeepers have reported that in the past year, they have lost over 43% of their honeybee colonies… and this is the 2nd highest percentage of loss ever recorded! Things are getting scary for the little honeybees. Monarch butterflies are also continuing to decline in numbers and have been reduced by 26% in the last year. The loss of honeybee colonies and monarch butterflies can be directly linked to the use of toxic chemicals which reduce their food sources, pollute the ground and water supplies and also directly kill the bees and butterflies. Toxic chemicals are not the only factor in the declining number of pollinators we’re seeing each year. Habitat loss and climate change play big roles in the lower counts of our favorite creatures. That being said, toxic chemical use is something that we can prevent or at the very least control and begin to minimize.   The Science is Clear Two major chemicals are at the forefront of the pollinator destruction: neonic (an insecticide) and glyphosate (a weed killer), and they are both “virtually unchecked”. As the purchase and use of these chemicals rises, the pollinator population declines. The facts show how closely tied together the two events are. Glyphosate, sadly, is almost solely responsible for wiping out the habitat for Monarchs, by eliminating the milkweed plant which is crucial for the Monarchs’ survival.   The NRDC Have you heard of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Pollinator Initiative? This is a major campaign designed to defend bees, butterflies and other pollinators from harsh chemicals released from many large companies and approved for use without restriction. Right now they are fighting a court battle against the EPA’s reauthorization of the weedkiller “glyphosate”, stating that the EPA has completely ignored warnings from medical experts and scientists about the serious risks to our environment and health. Hundreds of thousands of NRDC members and activists are contacting the EPA now in protest of these dangerous chemicals and calling on restrictions. It’s timely because the EPA is scheduled to perform a hazard review, which includes these chemicals, that should be completed by the end of 2022. However, once they reach their conclusions, they will not need to have another review until 2037! 15 years later! If the ruling does not reverse the use of these chemicals, more of our pollinators will be lost, or soon enough, completely wiped out. “We have a limited window, and in that time we have to make sure we’re weighing in at every stage of the process and making the strongest possible evidence-based case against these bee-toxic pesticides,” says Dan Raichel, Pollinator Initiative acting Director. “The science is on our side, but we’re up against a powerful industry that has billions a year in profits…” Their tireless work is invaluable and we hope they get the results they are looking for in court. The fate of our pollinators depends on it   Food Sources Will Also Decline “A study published by Rutgers University in July 2020 found that foods such as apples, cherries, and blueberries are already ‘pollinator limited,’ meaning a lack of pollinators is leading to lower crop yields. One in every three bites of food we take as humans relies on bees and other pollinators. Think about that at your next meal. What will be missing from your plate as we destroy the pollinators and our own health at risk by allowing these toxic chemicals to be used freely and without restriction.   But there is HOPE! Take Action by Contacting the EPA! We must join the fight and act now so we can affect change and insist that the EPA follows the science to restrict the use of these pollinator-destroying chemicals. TAKE ACTION NOW BY VISITING: nrdc.org/savebees to fill out the form petition. Your message will be sent to: Michael Regan, EPA Administrator with the subject line: Save our pollinators – and our food supply – from toxic pesticides!  Add your personal info and you will have joined the fight against big corporations and the manufacturing and use of these toxic chemicals.   In Closing “For far too long the EPA has refused to stand up to the agrochemical industry,” says Raichel. “We’re counting on NRDC members (and YOU) to join us in demanding the EPA stop putting Big Ag’s profits ahead of pollinator survival and people’s health.” The Biden-Harris administration has promised to restore science as central to protecting the environment and public health. We hope they deliver. *Our source is the NRDC “Natures’ Voice” Summer 2021 Publication. Please share your pollinator garden pics with us by mentioning us in your Instagram posts, or by sending us a message directly on Instagram or on Facebook. We’d love to see your photos and will choose our favorite to share on our social channels this month!   Thanks for supporting the bees and for supporting Little Bee of Connecticut! Visit our site to learn more about our company and our products.