The following is an opinion piece, designed to promote discussion and thought about helping all bees (not simply Apis Mellifera). If you are offended by this article, I would encourage you to take part in the discussion, but please keep in mind that people of all ages may access this site, and aggressive or harassing behavior will not be allowed. If you have any submissions, please feel free to contact me at beebenefactor@gmail.com.

Bees are very interesting creatures. There are literally tens of thousands of types (in the vicinity of 19,200 globally) that we know of, which means that there are more types of bee than there are mammals and birds COMBINED. In Australia alone, we have over 1,500 known species, including the increasingly popular (and increasingly endangered) stingless varieties (e.g. Tetragonula carbonaria) of which there are 10 known varieties. Bees have multiple ways that the harvest pollen and nectar, with some using very long tongues to reach into deep flowers (like the Amegilla bombiformis aka the Teddy Bear Bee), others (like the Amegilla cingulata aka the Blue Banded Bee) use a technique called “buzz pollination” to vibrate a flower causing pollen to fall off onto the bee. Fascinating as these methods are, the implication is that multiple bees require multiple types of flowers.

Why Gardens?

For the purposes of argument, I have completed some very rough calculations (for illustrative purposes only). By 2034, there are expected to be between 11.4 and 11.8 million households in Australia. It is very difficult to ascertain the “average” backyard size in Australia, however using figures from this survey into new houses built in 2003-2004, we can see that roughly the average new house is being built on ~650 m² built. Combine this with the fact that places like Brisbane have discussed in the past about making sure houses do not occupy more than 60% of their land (in smaller blocks) lets be generous and say that the average yard size roughly 200 m² (again, stay with me here, this is just an example, I understand a lot of people have no yards at all, and other people live on acreage). So we take the average block size and multiply it by 11.4 million and get 228,000 hectares of land (or an area larger than the ACT) just sitting there in our backyards. As I drive around most suburbs of Brisbane, you can tell that majority of our backyards are lawn, which is a problem for our bees.

Lawn – the big green desert

Bees do not see the world as we do. They have evolved over millions of years to identify food sources (i.e. usually flowering plants) and are attracted to their petals. Honeybees will sometimes be forced to travel ~12 km in order to seek out brightly coloured floral displays, especially if the local area is low on food. When you look out at your lawn, I am guessing you are seeing (or want to see) a nice bright green, lush, soft, manicured area which you religiously mow to keep it in check. When a bee looks at your lawn, they see the a baron, desolate wasteland, with no food sources. Ultimately, there are not too many things that are green AND produce nectar and pollen, so bees generally view greenery as we would view sand in a desert. It is not just bees either, nectar feeding birds and other beneficial insects are not generally drawn to lawn. Not only this, but many species of solitary bees require areas they can burrow into, or hollows of trees, to make their “nests” so that they can successfully reproduce. Heavily manicured lawns make this incredibly difficult, and to make matters worse, a lot of new “low-maintenance” gardens utilise plants which do not flower, and do not provide much concealment to insects.

The exception to the rule

The exceptions to the rule are when you let your lawn go a bit wild. If you let clover and dandelions grow in your lawn, you will start to see all sorts of wildlife start to visit your yard. I recently did my own backyard experiment where I did not mow my yard for approximately one month (apart from little touch ups with a whipper snipper to keep some areas from being inaccessible). At the same time, I took a disused (barren) garden bed, and planted some basic herbs (e.g. basil, rosemary, lavender, feverfew, etc). Literally within the first week of my trial, I noticed an increase in the number of dandelions and amount of clover which was flowering. By the end of week two, I was actively having to resist to urge to mow, due to the now increasing clumps of dandelions.

Taking responsibility for life in your garden

Around this time, I had started also listening to the Barefoot Beekeeper Podcast, who had made a podcast on actively familiarising yourself with the wildlife that relies on your garden. In the podcast, it was mentioned that a particular species of bird would regularly visit a lady’s yard. Because she would regularly sit and watch the bird, she noticed that it would often eat caterpillars. One year, after a cold winter (the lady was UK based), the birds returned and could not find caterpillars, but were instead eating aphids. During this time, she allowed “weeds” that she would normally pull out to grow, because they harboured aphids, and she would watch the birds eat from these weeds. She put it to the audience that if she didn’t take observe her backyard, she would have ultimately removed the food source of this bird species, and unknowingly driven it from the area.

After hearing this, I was inspired to venture outside and sit and watch the garden. The moment when it all hit me was when I recognised what my actions were doing to the fauna. Often I physically had to get down and start looking at the flowers, and seeing what was eating from them.

To give you examples of what I started to see (I remind you, after only a fortnight), I noted:

• Ladybirds (which I had not seen in my garden for over 12 months),
• Wanderer Butterflies, and a type of butterfly I had never seen before (again, had not seen them for years),
• Blue banded bees were visiting my Basil
• Teddy bear bees were visiting my feverfew and rosemary.
• An assassin bug (which I had never seen before in my area) which was unfortunately snacking on one of my Honeybees,
• Honeybees were all over the clover and dandelions,
• Countless other little insects were often seen on the flowers.

It is now just over a month, and I have planted extra herbs and flowering plants in anticipation of seeing how this interacts with the local fauna. I am not thinking up ways that I can convert areas of my lawn into garden space. I am certainly not suggesting that I am going to convert ALL of my lawn into garden, but I am especially considering areas where nobody walks, and areas where my grass is constantly dying out, as good places to start.

Yes, but why MY garden?

I know what you are thinking. My neighbour has a great garden, which surely has my area covered, right? Wrong. As mentioned earlier, bees (as a collective) require a range of different plant types in order to sustain populations, and also promote a healthy food chain. Various types of bird and other wildlife require healthy insect populations in order to stay in an area, and butterflies require a lot of protected area in order to lay eggs, and have their caterpillars successfully grow up. Add this to the fact that many types of bee forage in an area less than 500m from their nest, so having a high density of quality food for them is vitally important.

Beekeepers vs gardeners

The biggest factor in the statement that “gardeners are more important to bees than beekeepers” is the common misconception that the honeybee is in danger of becoming extinct. The honeybee is highly unlikely to become extinct for the same reason that cows are likely to become extinct; we have a lot of agricultural uses for honeybees. Even with the high rate of hive loss internationally, combined with a plummeting “feral” colony population, it is difficult to foresee a situation where honeybees are driven to absolute extinction. We are ultimately worrying about the wrong type of bee. There are research trials going on to see how we can utilise Blue Banded Bees in Australian Agriculture, but ultimately most other types of bee are neglected. They are suffering from extreme loss of habitat, and due to the fact that most do not have a colony to support them, the death of a small number of these bees can sign their ultimate death warrant. The Australian beekeeper is the champion of the Apis Mellifera bee, and in several smaller cases, the Sugarbag Bee, but ultimately do little for the welfare of any other forms of bee. To go one step further, beekeepers have ultimately been the root cause of majority of the ailments modern honeybees suffer by contributing to their rapid spread with reckless importing and migratory techniques.

Gardeners, on the other hand, have a great interest in making sure ALL bee species survive in their area, even if they do not know it. By simply changing a few practices and actively trying to contribute to “bee friendly zones” in their yards, Gardeners will reap the benefit of increased pollination of fruit and seeding crops,

Let me backtrack a little

I am certainly not saying that beekeepers are evil villains in this scenario (I remind you that I too am one), nor am I suggesting that Apis Mellifera does not contribute greatly to our planet. Honeybees produce over 4 billion dollars for the Australian economy annually, and provide delicious honey and vital pollination services. Personally, beekeeping is one of the most engaging and interesting hobbies I have ever had, and brings you closer to a species of animal which we as humans are learning a lot about. Beekeepers often have a strong relationship with nature, and majority of beekeepers would like to see an increase in “bee friendly zones” due to the simple fact that it will make their bees more productive. Some of the most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of flowering plants are in fact beekeepers, as they are often seen surveying local flora to find the best spots for their hives. Beekeepers are a big part of the discussion, there is no doubt about that.

What I am merely posing to the masses is that we do not need thousands more beekeepers in order to save the bees of Australia; we need thousands more bee friendly gardeners (and potentially thousands more bee friendly farmers too). Ultimately gardeners and beekeepers should be working together, striving to create conditions which benefit all bees. The fact that bees and flowers likely evolved together in symbiosis for over 100 million years, it is very interesting that we do not automatically consider bees in our garden planning process.