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It has been some months since I’ve been able to manage a giveaway, but with the new year comes new opportunities! And if you’re planning some new landscaping, flowerbeds, or gardening in 2022, this giveaway is for you – to help plan your plantings to be bee-friendly.
The Birds and the Bees
But wait, isn’t this site about birds? Yes indeed, but the birds and bees go hand-in-hand in the garden. Both bees and many birds – including hummingbirds, warblers, orioles, and many finches – love to sip on sweet nectar, and thus are efficient pollinators for our favorite flowers and all manner of flowering plants, including vines, fruits, berries, vegetables, groundcovers, and trees. By taking steps to help bees in the yard, you will also be helping the birds with eco-friendly choices and healthier landscaping.
The Book to Win
Planting for Honeybees: The Grower’s Guide to Creating a Buzz is a delightful book by Sarah Wyndham Lewis. The authoritative text is both informative and easy to read, and filled with helpful hints and interesting trivia. On every page, readers will find easy ways to nurture honeybees and other beneficial insects, not to mention the birds that will thrive with the same careful gardening. Beautiful illustrations complete the work, and an extensive list of resources is offered for more information.
While written from a British perspective and with British gardening in mind – the book is published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd., the same British publisher that produced my own book, Migration: Exploring the Remarkable Journeys of Birds – the tips and suggestions are equally useful no matter where in the world you may plan your plantings.
In addition to this fun and helpful book, the giveaway winner will also receive one red Bling Swing, the perfect resting spot for hummingbirds that may visit a very bee-friendly (and hummingbird-friendly!) garden! The same winner will receive both fun prizes in this single giveaway.
Enter the Giveaway
To be entered to win both these fun prizes, just answer the following in the comments below…
Name one thing you do in your yard to
help bees and other pollinators!
You must include a valid email address in the comment form to be contacted if you win, and the giveaway is only open to participants in the United States. The package will ship from Be Your Own Birder via USPS priority. By entering, all participants agree to the Giveaway Guidelines. Entries will close January 22, 2022, and the winner will be randomly selected at that time. Get your entry in, and soon you’ll be all abuzz with many more ways to help bees in your yard, garden, and landscape!
I have a large yard and leave parts of it to grow wild so wildflowers native to the area can grow. I also leave large patches of clover when mowing because they love the clover flowers. Last year I put in 4 large raised flower beds just to plant flowers that will bloom thru late fall to give them more flowers when others are dying off. Have also planted many flowering trees so they have spring flowers to enjoy. Started planting milkweed also because they love the milkweed flowers. I never use any type of pesticide ever in my yard. We need to protect our pollinators.
Last year I did plant seeds for a pollinator garden for the first time. I had to fence it until the plants came up to dissuade the squirrels from digging all the seeds up. Different plants Bloomed throughout the spring, summer and fall. I was disappointed with the number of bees that showed up. Even my main garden that has Salvias, Butterfly Bush, Catmint and a few other bee/butterfly/hummingbird attracting plants didn’t seem to do the trick. Part of the problem may be the fact that we just had year 2 of La Nina weather pattern which is a very dry pattern. My neighbors also noted the lack of bees last year. And we are all hoping for a better Summer since it appears El Nino (wet pattern) may be returning. I was at my local nursery a couple of days ago and purchased a selection of pollinator and butterfly seeds and will plant 2 pollinator gardens this year. And I’m thinking of maybe adding a small beehive.
Leave the leaves, spent flowerheads and grasses to overwinter as safe and warm spaces for pollinators.
We just moved here in September, but I’ve made sure that my plans for planting in the Spring include as many pollinator friendly plants as possible. Plus, I have lots of bird feeders up because birds help pollinate, too.
I have milkweed planted.
We have hanging both a bug and a butterfly house; we also leave the leaves and grow pollinator friendly plants/flowers!
I plant things that bees like including Jill pie weed butterfly bush and others. I leave the plants in place until spring and leave the leaves in the flowerbeds. I’m hoping to see more birds butterflies and bees next year. I have a bug house in place and try to create spaces for the bees.
I planted 4 new plants last fall that I am excited about. The one I call “my stick” is elderberry bush. I have another elderberry too so they will produce berries and flowers both. The other two are Beauty Berry. Fingers crossed they make it. If they don’t; I will try again. I really miss having berry bushes for the birds.
I always plant lots of flowers and let me veggies go to seed to help bees.