Urban gardens can help bees thrive

A research team led by Univ. of Calif.-Berkeley entomologist Gordon Frankie counted bees on more than 30 different ornamental plants in the gardens of 7 Calif. cities. Of about 4,000 known bee species in the U.S., about 1,600 have been identified in California. Across the cities studied, specific bee groups were often associated with ornamental plants, such as sunflower and leafcutting bees, bog sage and carpenter bees and goldenrod and Halictid bees. Unlike the more familiar honey bees, which are social and live in hives, most native Calif. bees are solitary and nest in cavities or the ground. Frankie said a predictable group of native bees species can be expected to visit certain ornamental plants, which can assist in the planning of gardens. The survey also showed that urban areas must have the right plant types and enough of them to attract native bees. Frankie said urban landscape gardens may be more suitable for monitoring certain bee pollinator species than wild areas because urban plants are usually intensively managed.