Bees
"We have one of the richest bee-flower faunas in the world. We have 5,000 species of flowering plants in California — 6,000 if you count subspecies, varieties, and hybrids — and the vast majority are pollinated by native bees because they evolved with them. If we have enough time and enough good people cooperating, we’ll have very good pollination by native bees in the future." - UC Berkeley Bee Lab, professor Gordon Frankie
Native California Bees
Here are the families of Common Bee Groups of California 60-70% of these bees are:
- Most native bees have a 95% pollination rate
- Solitary - Unlike the social European honey bee (Apis mellifera), most California native bees are solitary; they do not have hives, queens, or workers.
- Leave parts of the ground bare - the female solitary bee builds an individual nest by digging a tunnel in the ground or selecting a preexisting cavity such as those made by boring moth and beetle larvae. The young will remain in the nests for several months before they emerge as adults the following year.
read more of University of California Resources Garden Design Considerations in California Bee-Friendly Garden Recipes
Native Bees Need Bare Ground
"Between 60-70% of the native CA bee species dig tunnels in soil & provision a series of nest cells, each of which will contain one new bee offspring. To do this the female must find a patch of bare dirt, excavate a tunnel & then make repeated visits between the tunnel entrance and flowers for their pollen and nectar. If a nest-searching female encounters 1-2 inches of mulch or plastic where there should be bare dirt, she will not excavate through this material and will leave in search of an appropriate site. When a high number of gardeners in an area mulch or plasticate their soil, this can have a negative impact on bee populations." - read more about Bee - Mulch Madness
California Native Bees
- Common Bee Groups of California , UC Berkley Bee Lab
- Native Bee information, UC Berkley Bee Lab
- Seasonal Bee Gardening - food, water, cover, Plants.
- References for Building Bee Nesting Blocks and Bee Condos, UC Berkley Bee Lab
- Garden Design Considerations: California Bee-Friendly Garden Recipes, University of California
- How to Attract and Maintain Pollinators in your Garden
- Spreading the Buzz about Native Bees, Bay Nature Article
Bee on Filaree Plant
Pollinating Sunflower
Bee House in Native Garden
Mason Bee
california_plants_for_native_bees_xerces_society_factsheet.pdfsalvia_clevelandii.pdf