Flying Solo: Solitary Bees for Your Backyard
This article is available online in audio form at MotherEarthNews.com
Solitary bees are quickly becoming the new bee to host in your yard. One of Mother Nature’s best pollinators, they’re gentle, easy to care for, and critical pollinators for food and ecosystems. Unlike the social honeybee, solitary bees live and work alone, and they also don’t make honey. They forage for their own food and find their own nests, and all females lay their own eggs. Solitary bees make up the largest percentage of the bee population—out of the more than 20,000 bee species worldwide, around 90 percent are solitary!
Two popular bees to host in your yard are mason bees (Osmia spp.) and leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.). About 140 species of mason bees and 242 species of leafcutter bees inhabit North America, many of them native. Before honeybees were brought over from Europe, native bees pollinated the continent, enriching their habitat and helping it grow.
Springtime Is for Mason Bees
Mason bees are spring pollinators and
