What follows is a grab bag of helpful tips designed to help you
“Bee the Solution.”

Plant like the wind.

The wind has a way of planting things far and wide, and you can do the same. Plant “bee-friendly” plants that support and encourage healthy bee colonies, and suggestions can be found at pollinator.org and xerces.org. So get out your gardening gloves and plant to your heart's content.

Create a four-season sanctuary.

Get started early with plants that bloom mid-winter like Witch Hazel. For early spring provide Flowering Quince and Borage blooms. Fall flowers you can add include Mums and Asters, and leave some Goldenrod in your weedy patch to help bees find food. These all will make the winter much less harsh on bee colonies.

Be a beekeeper.

And support those around you. Become a beekeeper yourself. Get in touch with the wonderful folks at Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. Support local beekeepers by purchasing their products wherever and whenever you can. On vacation? Bring back some local honey. You'll appreciate the subtle variations.

Pour them a drink.

Consider installing a fountain or even keeping a birdbath constantly filled with fresh water. Bees need good old H2O, too. Water is becoming increasingly hard for bees to find, so putting a little out for them can make the difference between a healthy and non-healthy hive.

Watch your honey, honey.

Be picky about the honey you choose. Seeking out local, organic, chemical-free honey supports a broader effort that steers us away from pesticides, herbicides and the like toward a healthier environment for bees. And organic, unpasteurized honey contains enzymes that are crucial to human health.

No garden? No matter.

Live in an apartment building with lots of people instead of a house with lots of yard? Check with your superintendent about rooftop access. If you can get up to the roof and plant, the honey bees will follow. Or consider planting in window boxes, balconies and fire escapes. Wherever you can find room, you're helping to nurture local bees.

Let it go. Let it grow.

A green, weed-free lawn often creates an absolutely toxic, barren environment for bees. The average household dumps hundreds of pounds of fertilizer, pesticides and weed killers on their grass. The result is a landscape that harbors no safety and no food for our honey bees. It's time to try more natural options. Leave some clover and dandelions. Let the grass grow longer and healthier. Let it support the tiny flowers that bees love.

Support bee research.

Think about getting online and making a donation to bee research. The Eastern Apicultural Society will be glad. And also consider taking pen in hand or getting out your keyboard, and firing off a letter to your local and state representatives. Speak with your wallet, and your words, and let people know there's a lot they can do to help bees. CCD is a problem that clearly affects us all.

To spray or not to spray?

If you're currently spraying to get rid of pests, stop. And encourage your neighbors to refrain as well. It is suspected that pesticides play a huge role in CCD. Unfortunately, bees often can't tell the difference between pollen and pesticide. They bring the pesticides we spray right back into their hives, believing they're doing their job to feed and sustain it. Instead, they're bringing poison straight to the queen and colony. Take time to learn about safe alternatives.

Go easy on mulching.

Sure, a yard and landscape filled with plants and shrubs that are surrounded by deep mulch for weed control is popular and attractive to look at. But it's hard on many of our solitary ground nesting bees. Many native bees prefer ground nests and when you mulch to the five-inch mark, those little bees just can't make it. Mulch less – the bees will thank you for it.

Bee reading.

If you'd like to keep abreast of what's going on in the beekeeping world at large, Bee Culture magazine is for you. It's the oldest beekeeping journal in the country.

Create a corridor.

You can join a larger effort to create migratory pollinator-safe corridors across the country. One of the most important things we can do is to help replace the fragile habitat that these pollinators need...habitat that we have destroyed. It's time to give some back. Just contact The National Wildlife Federation to get started.

Please help support our partners:

Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (brushymountainbeefarm.com)
Bee Culture Magazine (beeculture.com)