Wild about bees: What you can do to help native pollinators

Let’s start by exploring the differences between wild, native bees and European honey bees—and why it matters.

The buzz on native bees

• Native bees are the most specialized and efficient pollinators. It is through pollination that plants produce seeds, fruits, and new plants.
• Some species of native bees are in drastic decline.
• When native bees disappear, they disappear forever.

The buzz on honey bees

• Honey bees are a non-native species, introduced from Europe, used in agriculture to pollinate crops and managed, as livestock, by beekeepers to produce honey.
• Honey bees are dying in large numbers but they are not an endangered  species.
• When a honey bee colony dies, more honey bees can be purchased and new colonies  started.

Did you know?

The Rusty-patched bumblebee—one of the most common native bees in southern Ontario just 50 years ago—hasn’t been seen in the wild in Ontario since 2009.

You’ve heard about the pollinator crisis, you’ve heard that bees are in trouble, you’ve heard about Colony Collapse Disorder, and you want to do something to help. Interest in backyard beekeeping is growing, but is it the right thing to do?

Keeping honey bees doesn’t help to save wild bees, much like keeping backyard hens doesn’t save wild birds.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Keeping European honey bees in your backyard does nothing to help native bees and may actually harm them.
• Research suggests that honey bees may be a factor in the decline of some species of native bees; they can outcompete native bees for nectar and pollen, spread diseases and parasites, and negatively affect the reproductive health of native bees.
• Backyard beekeeping is a highly specialized hobby that requires time, skill, careful attention, and mentorship. If not done properly, it can have negative—and even dire—consequences for Ontario’s beekeeping industry, small-scale hobbyists, and wild, native   bees.
• The Ontario Bees Act requires all beekeepers to register their hives with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It also requires all hives to be at least 30 metres from a property line, which prohibits most Toronto homeowners from keeping honey bees in their backyards.

A single honey bee hive can contain 50,000 honey bees, which can consume the amount of pollen needed to feed about 110,000 offspring of a single native bee.

Are you thinking of buying managed bees, such as honey bees? Here are some questions to ask yourself first – Considerations for Buying Managed Bees from Pollination Guelph.

Create a pollinator garden!

The easiest and most effective way to help native pollinators is to plant native plants. By planting native plants, you will be providing much-needed habitat that native bees need to survive.

Native plants provide pollen and nectar which they need to feed themselves and their larvae, as well as places to nest and overwinter.

You can create pollinator habitat in your yard, on your balcony,  at your condo or apartment building, at your office, school, faith centre, community garden—everywhere!

See our garden tips and plant list in the sections below to get you started.

An ideal pollinator garden will include the following:

• food sources – such as pollen and nectar from native flowers
• nesting and overwintering sites – such as bare soil, hollow stems, and leaves
• larval host plants – such as milkweed

Here are some tips to help you create a new pollinator garden or transform your existing garden to be more pollinator-friendly. The plants you choose and how you maintain your garden are important considerations.

Planting tips:

• Plant native: Choose native plants, trees and shrubs rich in pollen and nectar. Locally grown and pesticide free are best.
• Plant host plants: Butterflies lay their eggs on specific plants. Monarch butterflies, for example, will only lay their eggs on milkweed, the sole food source for their larva.
• Provide continuous bloom: Pollinators need a continuous source of pollen and nectar so select a variety of plants that will bloom from spring to fall.
• Mass plantings: Planting multiples of the same plant together in large groupings makes it easier for pollinators to find and collect pollen.
• Plant single bloom varieties: The petals of double or triple bloom varieties can block access to pollen and nectar.
• Prevent the spread of invasive plants: Monitor your property for invasive plants and remove them when detected. The invasive dog-strangling vine has a negative impact on Monarchs – female butterflies mistakenly lay their eggs on it since it’s in the milkweed family, instead of native milkweeds, causing their larvae to starve.

Other garden elements:

• Provide water: A birdbath or shallow dish of water with half submerged rocks will help bees and butterflies quench their thirst.
• Provide sun: Butterflies like to bask in the sun, so place a few flat rocks in sunny, sheltered locations.

Maintenance tips:

• Limit mulch: Many native bees build nests in soil, so leave some bare patches of soil and limit your use of mulch.
• Leave dead stems: Some bees hibernate and lay eggs in hollow stems. If you do cut, leave the bottom 8 inches in place and bundle the cut stems and place them in your garden. Bundles of sticks and stems that are put out for yard waste collection too early in spring will often contain overwintering bees. In the spring, wait until temperatures are consistently above 10o Celsius before cleaning up your garden.
• Keep your dead wood: Large branches and decaying logs can be kept in a sunny spot to provide much-needed overwintering habitat for bees and other wildlife.
• Leave the leaves: Leave the leaves where they fall or rake them into your garden to provide overwintering habitat for butterflies.
• Avoid tilling: Keep large patches of land unmown and untilled to provide secure and undisturbed nesting sites for ground-nesting bees.
• Minimize manicuring: A perfectly manicured lawn is a food desert for pollinators. Natural gardens and lawns offer the most benefits for pollinators in terms of food and nesting spots.
• Reduce mowing: To avoid disturbing ground-nesting bees, mow your lawn less often and set the blade at the highest level possible.
• Prune and deadhead: Remove dead flower heads to encourage new growth and a longer flowering season.
• Avoid pesticides: Avoid plants/seeds treated with systemic insecticides, such as neonicotinoids. And don’t spray pesticides. Toronto’s Pesticide Bylaw bans the cosmetic use of pesticides.
• Keep it natural: Converting a lawn or garden to concrete, gravel, mulch or artificial turf reduces valuable food and nesting sites.

Pollinator protection actions take many forms in our yards: planting native species, expanding garden space to reduce grass coverage, and intentionally creating spaces for pollinators to eat, drink, and rest. With a little research and effort, creating urban pollinator habitat can go a long way to promote species richness and diversity.

Yet, some of the most effective actions towards pollinator protection entail doing… well, nothing.

You may have seen “leave the leaves” campaigns through the fall, encouraging you to ditch the fall garden clean-up. Why? Allowing your garden to stand for the winter provides essential habitat for pollinating insects to overwinter. Native pollinator species in Toronto need plant litter to nest and survive the cold.

Now that spring is dropping hints of its arrival, many of us are getting anxious to get our gardens in shape for the growing season to come. But when that one t-shirt appropriate day inevitably comes before May, do not reach for your rake and shears.

Cleaning up your garden too early will harm nesting pollinators. Although it can be hard to wait, it is best to not partake in any garden clean-up for as long as possible in the spring. The earliest to start tidying is once the weather has consistently been above 10 degrees for at least a week.

In early spring, insects are still in diapause. This is a resting state like hibernation. The insects will not be moving and need to be left alone until it is warm enough to emerge on their own.

The following tips ensure a spring garden clean-up that preserves pollinator habitat while allowing you to prepare for the upcoming growing season.

1. Leave the leaves, again

Hopefully your garden beds are covered in fall leaves. If there is less than an inch of leaf cover, do nothing. They will decompose over time and can fertilize and protect the garden soil and promote microorganism health. Do not underestimate how much new foliage will cover! By summer the leaves will be hardly visible. If there is a thicker layer of leaf cover on your beds, gently remove the extra before the new growth starts to emerge. Whenever disturbing leaf cover keep a close eye out for insects. Luna moths, for example, overwinter in cocoons that camouflage as dead leaves. Extra leaves can be added to compost, used as mulch, or simply moved to sit between plants (this method also suppresses weed growth and doesn’t block access to the bare soil for ground nesters).

2. Step away from the mulch

Some pollinator species hunker down for the winter right in the soil. Covering the soil with mulch is like pouring concrete over their homes – it may smother these insects and inhibit their spring emergence. Mulch in general is not necessary in a garden and should be used sparingly. If you would like to mulch, hold off until the weather has turned, and the soil has had a chance to dry out. Strategically mulch just around the base of plants, leaving plenty of bare patches for ground nesting bees.

3. Cut, bundle and tie stems

Both adults and pupae of some pollinator species nest in dead, hollow plant stems. Once the weather is consistently above 10 degrees, you can begin trimming stems. We recommend cutting stems higher up. Leaving about 30cm of stem ensures overwintering sites for pollinator generations to come while still leaving you with a tidy-looking garden. Loosely bundle the cuttings together in groups of about a handful and leave them in your garden space by hanging the bundles or leaning them against something sturdy. This way, pollinators like bees and beneficial native wasps can emerge when the time and temperature is right.

4. Practice pragmatic pruning

If you have shrubs and woody perennials to prune, do so with a sharp eye and take your time. Many moth and butterfly species overwinter dangling from branches in cocoons, and flowering shrubs are an important first source of food for these species. If you spot a chrysalis or cocoon, leave it alone. You can always trim later.

More Resources:

• Don’t Spring Into Garden Cleanup Too Soon! 
• Five Ways To Support Queen Bumble Bees This Spring 

Choosing native wildflowers can make your garden beautiful, easy to maintain and help support local pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Here are some native plants organized by season to help you provide a continuous source of food for pollinators. We’ve also indicated growing conditions in sun or shade.

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

Native trees and shrubs offer benefits to pollinators too. Here are a few to consider based on size and moist soil conditions (see rain garden species).

Large species:

• Black Oak (Quercus velutina)
• Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
• Basswood (Tilia Americana)
• Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis)

Small to medium species:

• Serviceberry (Amelanchier species)
• Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
• Purple Flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus)
• Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
• Bush Honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
• Common ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
• Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
• Common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
• Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Rain garden species:

• Meadowsweet (Spirea alba)
• Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)
• Grey dogwood (Cornus racemosa)

More native species profiles:

• Ontario Tree Atlas
• Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests (LEAF).

Get to know Goldenrod brochure – includes the information below and photos of goldenrod species.

Looking for a great plant to support pollinators? Say hello to goldenrod!

A hardy native plant with many different species adapted to a wide range of growing conditions, there’s a goldenrod that’s right for every garden. And when you plant goldenrod in your yard, on your balcony or in a community garden, the birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators will all benefit.

The Goods on Goldenrod

• There are more than 25 species of goldenrod native to Ontario.
• Goldenrod supports more than 100 species of moths and butterflies in their larval stage.
• More than 35 species of bees are specialist feeders on goldenrod pollen.
• Goldenrod blooms in late summer into the fall, and its nectar is an important late-season food source for pollinators.

Goldenrods for Shade

These species grow naturally in forests and are great for shady garden areas.

Zig zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis):

Broad, dark green leaves with saw-toothed edges. Growth form is upright; stems have a bent, zig-zag pattern. Spreads by underground rhizomes and multiplies, though not aggressively. Delicately scented blooms are bright yellow in many small clusters where the leaves meet the stem. Grows well in large containers on a shady balcony.

Blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia):

Tolerates somewhat dry and sandy soils. Long stems arc outwards in a circle, with bright yellow flowers in clusters held close to the stem. Leaves are narrow with serrated edges; stems have a waxy coating that tinges them blue. As it matures, forms a large clump.

Goldenrods for Part-Sun

These adaptable species, from sun to part-sun, do well in the dappled conditions found under some types of trees.

Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis):

Extremely tough. Flourishing in gravelly soil, it’s a great container plant, too. Stems and leaves are covered in dense, velvety white hairs. Pyramid-shaped flower clusters arrayed at the end of stems.

Silverrod (Solidago bicolor):

One of two goldenrod species in Ontario with white flowers instead of the usual yellow. (The other is Solidago ptarmicoides.) Growth form is upright, with large leaves at the base becoming smaller towards the middle. Flowers cluster tightly around the central stem of the leaf-less top half of the plant.

Goldenrods for Full Sun

These species are very drought-tolerant and thrive in open, sunny areas.

Grass-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia):

Long, slender leaves and a flower cluster that is branched and “flat-topped,” rather than pyramid or rod-shaped; airy, elegant appearance. Can become “top heavy,” so grow it alongside other tall meadow plants for support.

Early goldenrod (Solidago juncea):

Flower clusters look like tasselled golden pyramids. Long and thick, leathery green leaves form a cluster at the base of the plant, from which the tall stem emerges in summer. Usually the first goldenrod to bloom, often in early August.

Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida):

Excellent showpiece, with broad leaves and stout stems that are velvety with short white hairs. Clusters of dense and abundant yellow flowers. Thrives in hot, dry conditions. Grows to an impressive size.

Goldenrods for Sunny and Wet Areas / Rain Gardens

Ohio goldenrod (Solidago ohioensis):

Thrives in moist areas—near a downspout or a low area, for example. Flower cluster is flat-topped, open and airy. Stems are upright and stout.

Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima), Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), and Giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea):

These three species are very similar in appearance, and are likely to volunteer in gardens, with seeds blowing in on the wind. All have three prominent veins on lower leaves, and tassel/pyramid-shaped flower clusters. Can be vigorous, and even aggressive (spreading by underground rhizomes), but can be managed by pulling up stems or growing in containers.

Did you know?

• Some species of goldenrod are rare in the wild. (Don’t dig up any plants from natural areas!)
• Native goldenrods are exceptionally valuable for pollinators, providing nectar and pollen in late summer through fall. Goldenrod provides crucial fuel for migrating butterflies such as monarchs, and for queen bumblebees preparing for winter.
• Goldenrods support a broad array of beneficial insects, and some of the relationships between goldenrod and insects have evolved to be specialized and dependent.
• Many species of goldenrod grow tall. If you’d like to keep it shorter, try this trick: in late June or early July, cut the stems back by half. It will keep growing, becoming bushy, and will still flower in late summer, in a more compact form.
• You can grow goldenrod in a pot on your balcony or deck. Try these species in containers:
  • Silverrod (Solidago bicolor)
  • Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)
  • Grass-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia)
  • Zig zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)
  • Early goldenrod (Solidago juncea)
  • Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima)
  • Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis)
  • Giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)

Download this information: Get to know Goldenrod brochure – includes photos of the goldenrod species mentioned here.

Text by Lorraine Johnson and Ryan Godfrey, Project Swallowtail

Wild about Bees: Pollinator Garden Resource List

• PollinateTO Grants – get a grant for your pollinator garden
• Wild About Bees brochure
• Get to know Goldenrod brochure
• A Flower Patch for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee book  – free download from Friends of the Earth Canada
• Pollinators in Peril study (Center for Biological Diversity, 2017)
• Bumblebee Watch – Citizen science is an important way to compile info about pollinators and is crucial to conservation.
• Books recommended for learning more about native plants and Indigenous ecological knowledge are: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer; and Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to do is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings, edited by Wendy Makoons Geniusz.
• Pollen Specialist Bees of the Eastern United States – by Jarrod Fowler and Sam Droege, 2020
• A book about the relationships between pollinators and native plants is Heather Holm’s book Pollinators of Native Plants.
• Douglas Tallamy’s work on the relationship between Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths and skippers) and plants is summarized in his book Bringing Nature Home.
• The In the Zone project  – a collaboration between Carolinian Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada
• You can find lists of native plant nurseries on the website of the North American Native Plant Society, Credit Valley Conservation, and Halton Master Gardeners
• From Nursery to Nature: Evaluating Native Herbaceous Flowering Plants Versus Native Cultivars for Pollinator Habitat Restoration – study by Dr. Annie White
• Grow Me Instead – Free downloadable brochure published by the Ontario Invasive Plant Council:
• No Fear of Stings! – Download the brochure
• The Problem with Honey Bees – article in Scientific American about honeybees and native bees. As well, google the work of Dr. Sheila Colla, at York University, who has published pioneering studies on threats to, and conservation of, native bees.
• For info on “bee washing” – a term coined by Scott MacIvor and a website by Charlotte de Keyzer
• For info on how bee hotels might not be working as advertised, check out Scott MacIvor and Laurence Packer’s study, ‘Bee Hotels’ as a Tool for Native Pollinator Conservation: A Premature Verdict
• Considerations for Buying Managed Bees from Pollination Guelph