Celebrating National Pollinator Month and Buzzing with Bees on the Potting Bench

Celebrate National Pollinator Month and learn what you can do to help the bees and other pollinators.

June is National Pollinator Month, I’m celebrating the bees today,

to bring awareness to importance of pollinators!

If you’ve been a follower of my blog for any length of time then you know I love all things *bee*

including seeing them buzz and bumble around the garden!

If you’re a gardener, you recognize the importance of bees and other pollinators

and celebrate them everyday!

I’m sharing some ‘bee’ favorites and tabletop fun on the Potting Bench.

in celebration of National Pollinator Month!

🐝🐝🐝

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I have an assortment of vintage honey cans that were eBay and Etsy finds. . .

I love the graphics with the bee skeps on the honey cans. . .

Instead of bee skep, this one has bear that is after the honey!

I cut some garden blooms and used them as vases on the top shelf of the Potting Bench. . .

Hydrangeas,  Speedwell (Veronica), Lantana and Cleome. . .

Coleus, Verbena and Popcorn Drift Rose. . .

The cans are buzzing with bee magnets.

I gave the bee magnets a 2-minute makeover, adding some silver highlights, HERE.

Verbena Lollipop is a bee and butterfly magnet and also attracts hummingbirds!

It grows in USDA zones 6 – 10, prefers full sun in well-drained soil.

If you’re looking for a flower that attracts pollinators, self-sows and tolerates the heat,

Verbena Lollipop is the garden flower for you!

From Pollinator.org:

June is National Pollinator Month, with Pollinator Week, June 20th – 26th,

a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what you can do to protect them.

Many pollinator populations are in decline attributed to a loss in feeding and nesting habitats.

Pollution, the misuse of chemicals, disease, and changes in climatic patterns

are all contributing to shrinking and shifting pollinator populations.

Somewhere between 75% and 95% of all flowering plants on the earth need pollinators.

Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species

and more than 1200 crops.

That means that we should be grateful for pollinators, as we have them to thank

for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat.

Most pollinators (about 200,000 species) are beneficial insects such as flies,

beetles, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, and bees.

About 1,000 of all pollinators are vertebrates such as birds, bats, and small mammals.

Pollinators add 217 billion dollars to the global economy and

honey bees alone are responsible for between 1.2 and 5.4 billion dollars

in agricultural productivity in the United States.

In addition to the food that we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems

that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather,

and support other wildlife.

Gardeners are encouraged to create pollinator-friendly habitats with

native flowering plants that supply pollinators with nectar, pollen, and homes.

Select old-fashioned varieties of flowers whenever possible,

since breeding has caused some modern blooms to lose their fragrance

and/or the nectar/pollen needed to attract and feed pollinators.

 There are more than 4,000 native bee species in the U.S. with over 500 species here in North Carolina.

They vary in size, shape, color and carry pollen in various places on their body

and even have different seasons of activity.

An English chimney pot corrals an assortment of old garden tools. . .

and a new addition, an shovel buzzing with bee and flower design.

A Woodman’s Famous Bee-Ware Smoker was an antique mall find.

I was smitten with the graphics of the bee keeper on the smoker. . .

Beauty is in the eye of the *bee* holder. ;) 🐝

We’re raising a glass of Camelot Mead Honey Wine to celebrate pollinators!

Wallace Napoleon Bee Flatware is buzzing with bees . . .

In a mug with a honeycomb and bee design.

As well as garden tools, a recent HomeGoods find.

Did you know most species of bees don’t sting?

Female bees are physically capable of stinging,

but most bee species native to the U.S. are “solitary bees,”

that don’t live in colonies and don’t sting

unless they are physically threatened or injured.

Only honey bees are defensive and may chase someone who disturbs their hive.

🐝 Bee Kind to Pollinators:

🐝 Reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides. If you must use them, use the most selective and least toxic ones and apply them at night
when most pollinators aren’t active.

🐝 Plant in clusters to create a “target” for pollinators to find.

🐝 Plant for continuous bloom throughout the growing season from spring to fall.

🐝 Select a site that has shelter from wind (by trees and shrubs), has at least partial sun, and can provide water.

🐝 Allow material from dead branches and logs remain as nesting sites; reduce mulch to allow patches of bare ground for ground-nesting bees to utilize; consider installing wood nesting blocks for wood-nesting natives.

🐝🐝🐝

 Details:

Bee skeps / Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, several years ago

Wallace Napoleon Bee Flatware

Embossed Bee Skep Plates / Naturewood by Pfaltzgraff, discontinued

Bee Sweet dinner plates / Certified International, used HERE

 Bee Sweet 8.5″ Salad/Dessert Plates / Certified International

Ciroa Buffalo Check Dinner Plates / HomeGoods, several years ago, used HERE

Daisy Bee Napkin Rings

Bee Mason Jar Mugs / Tuesday Morning

Bee Garden Tools / HomeGoods

Bee Magnets

Flower Chargers / Pier 1, several years ago

Placemats / Target, several years ago

Bee Post Box / Michaels, several months ago

Bee Salad Plates / Tim Coffey for Creative Co-Op

Honey Tin Cans and Bee Smoker / vintage

The hum of bees is the voice of the garden.

This concludes my post! :) 🐝

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 Between Naps on the Porch