Did you know that Florida has over 315 native bee species, and 29 of them are found nowhere else? Instead of just focusing on the well-known European honey bees, which live in large hives, consider attracting our native solitary bees to your yard and garden.

The great thing about our native solitary bees is that they are more efficient at pollinating our plants. Solitary bees have many advantages over honey bees as pollinators because they fly rapidly, pollinate more plants, rarely sting, work on cloudy days, start earlier in the morning (7 a.m. or earlier), and work later in the afternoon than honey bees do. Bumblebees, digger bees, and sweat bees make up the bulk of native bees in most parts of the state. To support solitary bees, we must provide nesting habitats, stop using harmful pesticides, and plant suitable flowers that provide year-round food.

Native bees can be divided into soil-dwelling and wood-dwelling species. Of those, approximately 70% nest in the ground by digging a tunnel in bare or semi-bare, well-draining soil. Soil-dwelling bees include bumble, digger, sweat, and squash bees. Bumblebees are hardworking, faster than honey bees, and active in cooler temperatures. Bumblebees pollinate many of our most common vegetables, such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, melons, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Squash bees only visit squash, pumpkin, and gourd flowers. They are early risers, too, and will visit all the squash flowers by midday, when the flowers close.

The remaining 30% of our solitary bees will nest in cavities or in plants with pithy stems, such as our native elderberry. Wood dwellers include our leafcutting bees (which created a nest in a hole in our brick stairs) and carpenter bees. The leafcutting bees are partial to legume blooms but will also pollinate other crops, such as carrots and sunflowers. They are also very efficient pollinators, so it takes fewer leafcutting bees than honey bees to pollinate flowers. Carpenter bees pollinate crops such as passion fruit, blackberries, blueberries, corn, peppers, and pole beans.

Here are some ways to increase the native bee population in your yard. Start by choosing a sunny area to plant a cluster of flowering plants. In the cluster’s center, leave the soil bare or only spread a thin layer of mulch so the ground-nesting bees can lay their eggs in underground tunnels. The second step is to reduce the use of harmful pesticides. The extensive use of pesticides, particularly in urban landscapes, has contributed to the loss of many bees and other pollinators. Next, provide pollinators with food by planting a variety of plant species together so flowers are produced every month and the bees can easily spot them. Finish off the outside of the cluster or drift of flowers by mulching the outer edge of the plant bed. This will help to suppress the weeds and give the mass planting a neat appearance.

Here are the top native flowers that support the largest number of native bees here in Brevard County. Our number one genus, Solidago (goldenrods), includes five species of tall-growing, yellow-flowering, narrow plants that do great in dry/well-draining soil and full sun. My goldenrod is a robust plant that wasn’t even phased by our recent freezes. Next are the Helianthus (sunflowers), with three species to choose from. H. angustifolia, Narrow-leaved sunflower, grows three to five feet with a four-to-six-foot spread and blooms in October. Helianthus debilis, East Coast dune sunflower, will produce a clump two to four feet tall with a similar spread. Our native Geranium, Geranium carolinianum, rarely grows taller than 18 inches and 1-2 feet wide, appears in spring and is typically gone by mid-summer, and/or could appear in the winter. Another good choice is our single species of Heterotheca, H. subaxillaris (False goldenrod), which can grow to five feet, with a narrow spread, and produces yellow blooms from July through November. Other great members of the daisy family that support our bees include the Goldenaster (Chrysopsis sp.), Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.), Silkgrass (Pityopsis graminifolia), Coneflower (Rudbeckia hirta), and Old field aster (Symphyotrichum spp.).

To learn more about our native bees, check out our Florida Bee Gardens website at https://ffl-apps.ifas.ufl.edu/bees/. You can learn about the different types of bees, see photos of them, nesting information, the plants they visit, and more.

Attracting pollinators is as easy as growing their nectar plants in your yard. If you want to attract butterflies, plant their host plants, and if you are growing vegetable plants, attract our native bees that will pollinate their flowers. It is in our own best interests to support our native bees, because they are the reason our plants produce seeds, so we don’t run out of both food and flowering plants!

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