Bees are one of my favourite insects. They have co-evolved with flowering plants and their benefit to your garden can not be overstated. So you can definitely say that humans and bees have a strong relationship albeit pretty one sided.

The species of bee that we all recognise on sight is not native to Australia however and was introduced here in the 1820s. I still love them :).

Species: Apis mellifera

Identification:

Some amazing slow motion footage of bees leaving and returning to my friend Giuseppe’s Flow Hive in slow motion.

Benefits:

Bees:

• pollinate many of our flowering edibles
• make honey, beeswax etc
• are pleasant to watch and listen to

Encouragement:

Plant flowers near or between your edible crops to encourage bees into your garden. Avoid the use of pesticide sprays and systemic controls that are harmful to bees.If you have to spray, do so in the evening so no bees are present and use low toxic, fast breakdown products like pyrethrum liquid.

More Resources:

• BBC’s ‘The importance of bees’
• Native Australian species ‘Wikipedia‘
• See more GoodCritters here

Please consider subscribing to get a weekly email summary of our posts.