Want to encourage pollinators to visit your garden? How you can attract Michigan's bees

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19-04-2025

As warm weather finally begins to filter into Michigan, gardeners may be wondering how they can welcome back pollinators with a bee-friendly garden.
Filling your garden with native plants that attract the vital pollinators can help sustain the environment, according to gardening store Deneweth's.
"As gardeners in Michigan, we have a unique opportunity to support our local ecosystems by planting native species. Native plants are not only adapted to our climate but also play a crucial role in supporting local wildlife, particularly pollinators like bees and butterflies," Deneweth's website says.
While Easter weekend is forecast to be rainy and cool, temperatures in much of lower Michigan are expected to rebound into the 60s and even 70s in the coming week, which may prompt many people to hit the garden shops for plants.
Picking the right plants for a Michigan garden can help threatened pollinators survive.
Michigan's native bee species are under threat from a variety of sources, including development, pesticides, parasites, diseases and other factors. Experts have been urging people to take steps to increase numbers because bees are responsible for pollinating much of the food people eat.
As of 2020, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said, there were more than 70 species of pollinators listed as endangered or threatened.
Here's what to know.
Bees typically come out in the spring and stay active through the summer and fall, according to Save the Bee.
Bees play a key role in the ecosystem and food supply, feeding on nectar and pollen from flowers, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The pollinators have been in decline amid factors like climate change, habitat destruction and fragmentation, pesticides, invasive species and disease, according to the National Wildlife Federation, prompting renewed conservation efforts.
Honeybees start to stir as early as March, according to B&K's Bees, but they may need help finding food.
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"Make sure your hives have food, just because they are able to start finding some pollen does not mean there are any nectar sources quite yet, so they need sugar and they probably need it bad," B&K said. "March is a month where many beekeepers are tricked into thinking their hives have survived the winter, just to see them die out due to starvation."
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says bees are under threat from a variety of sources, including:
Habitats that pollinators need in order to survive are shrinking. As native vegetation is replaced by roadways, manicured lawns, crops and non-native gardens, pollinators lose the food and nesting sites that are necessary for their survival. Remaining patches of prairie and meadow have become more disconnected.
Invasive plants crowd out native ones, reducing food and shelter for pollinators. Disease-causing organisms — including viruses, fungi and bacteria — can spread from non-native to native pollinators.
While pesticides can help control crop pests and invasive species, improper use can harm pollinators and other wildlife. Use pesticides only when necessary.
Flowers are blooming earlier as temperatures warm, costing some pollinators the opportunity to feed. Some insects feed only on specific plants; if these blooms die before insects arrive, the insects go hungry and fewer plants get pollinated. Rising temperatures may be contributing to a decline in bumblebees. Numbers of North American bumblebees have fallen nearly 50% since 1974.
Two species that come to life early in the year are bumblebees and miner bees.
"Due to their larger size and fuzzy bodies, bumblebee queens are some of the first bees to emerge from their hibernation cavities," Milwaukee's Schlitz Audubon Nature Center said. "In early spring, you might notice a frenetic buzzing over bare patches in your garden. Look a little closer and you will likely see mining bees. Mining bees are solitary insects that sometimes nest in large aggregations."
To get started on planting your bee-friendly garden, aim for a diverse range of flowering plants, including native plants, the Michigan Pollinator Initiative at Michigan State University said.
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Bee-friendly plants, according to The Nature Conservancy, Beverly Bees, Heritage Conservancy, Michigan Pollinator Initiative and Deneweth's include:
Native wildflowers: black-eyed Susan, American lotus, blazing star, marsh marigold, Culver's root, wild bergamot, prairie smoke, New England aster, bladderwort, wild columbine, common trillium, bloodroot, wild lupine
Trees: black cherry, red maple, black locust, willow, silky dogwood, eastern redbud, American wild plum, basswood, winged sumac, blackgum
Fruits: blueberry, apple, raspberry, tomato, watermelon, strawberry, blackberry
Herbs: basil, sage, thyme, oregano, mint
Shrubs: elderberry, blackhaw, serviceberry, buttonbush, winterberry
Flowers: sunflower, tulip, rose, cornflower
Vegetables: cucumber, pumpkin, broccoli, squash
Michigan is home to more than 400 bee species, the MSU Extension said. Common bee species in Michigan, according to the Michigan Pollinator Initiative, include:
Bumblebees
Cuckoo bees
Carpenter bees
Honey bees
Dark sweat bees
Long-horned bees
Miner bees
Cuckoo bees
Green sweat bees
Keep these tips from Home Depot, Gardeners' World and Flow Hive in mind to cultivate a bee-friendly environment in your garden:
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Avoid pesticides or use organic-approved pesticides
Plant shrubs and trees
Set up a bee box or bee nest in your garden or yard
Reduce weeding, leave parts of your yard natural
Maintain multiple water sources for your garden
Provide tired bees a sugar water mixture
Contact Jenna Prestininzi: [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How to build a bee-friendly garden in Michigan this spring