The international bee crisis is threatening our global food supply, but this user-friendly field guide shows what you can do to help protect our pollinators. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offers browsable profiles of 100 common flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees that support bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. The recommendations are simple: pick the right plants for pollinators, protect them from pesticides, and provide abundant blooms throughout the growing season by mixing perennials with herbs and annuals! 100 Plants to Feed the Bees will empower homeowners, landscapers, apartment dwellers — anyone with a scrap of yard or a window box — to protect our pollinators.

This PDF book is best viewed on a desktop or tablet, not a phone (due to the size of the pages). The quality of the book is best in the Play Books app, not through the Google Play web store and library. However please understand that the pages will be around 50% of the size of the hardcover print edition and may be easier to read when when zoomed in. The PDF can be saved offline, but can't be saved to your computer and opened in Adobe Acrobat, copied and shared, or printed in full. It will remain in the Google app or library. Understanding the biology of flora and its value to honey bees is the core foundation for successful beekeeping. Bees feed on nectar and pollen. No food equals no bees! The flowers on which bees forage have a major impact on stocking rates and the level of nutrition available to the colony, two subjects that need to be understood for a beekeeper to be successful. Whether a beekeeper owns one hive or a thousand, the principle is the same. Floral resources within Australia underpin so many systems and animal species. Building knowledge and understanding of what they are, and how they are adapting to a changing climate, is a critical field of scientific endeavour. This publication is part of the journey to focus on the value of plants to nectarivores and honey bees in particular. The result of over 30 years of research, it distils both scientific knowledge and the opinions of hundreds of beekeepers into a reference work that will be the cornerstone of floral understanding in apiculture for years to come. Contents Acknowledgements Preface What makes an ideal apiary site? Hive stocking rate Honey bee nutrition Star rating A note on flowering charts What’s in a name? Describing plants List families – genus/species Plant profiles Glossary Bibliography and references Websites Index

Pollinators-insects, birds, bats, and other animals that carry pollen from the male to the female parts of flowers for plant reproduction-are an essential part of natural and agricultural ecosystems throughout North America. For example, most fruit, vegetable, and seed crops and some crops that provide fiber, drugs, and fuel depend on animals for pollination. This report provides evidence for the decline of some pollinator species in North America, including America's most important managed pollinator, the honey bee, as well as some butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds. For most managed and wild pollinator species, however, population trends have not been assessed because populations have not been monitored over time. In addition, for wild species with demonstrated declines, it is often difficult to determine the causes or consequences of their decline. This report outlines priorities for research and monitoring that are needed to improve information on the status of pollinators and establishes a framework for conservation and restoration of pollinator species and communities.

Native bees are a hidden treasure. From alpine meadows in the national forests of the Rocky Mountains to the Sonoran Desert in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona and from the boreal forests of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to the Ocala National Forest in Florida, bees can be found anywhere in North America, where flowers bloom. From forests to farms, from cities to wildlands, there are 4,000 native bee species in the United States, from the tiny Perdita minima to large carpenter bees. This illustrated and colorful pamphlet provides valued information about native bees --over 4,000 in population --varying in a wide array of sizes, shapes, and colors. They are also different in their life styles, the places they frequent, the nests they build, the flowers they visit, and their season of activity. Yet, they all provide an invaluable ecosystem service - pollination -to 80 percent of flowering plants. Blueberry bees, bumble bees, yellow jacket bees, carpenter bees, and more are explored, including the differences in their gender, nests, and geographical regions that they visit.

Across the country, honey bees gather nectar and pollen from a wide variety of plants. However, the specific plants a hive uses depends on its location. Some plants only grow in certain parts of the country. Other plants grow across a wide range, but honey bees may use them more in some states than in others. Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys is the first book to focus on the plants used by honey bees in this area.Written by a beekeeper and wildlife biologist, Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys contains full color pictures and descriptions of over 175 plants organized by when they bloom. Also included are chapters about honey bees and their plight, honey bee foraging behavior, factors that influence nectar and pollen production throughout a plant¿s range, and planting for honey bees. Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys was written as a guide for anyone who is interested in honey bees. Whether you are a beekeeper who wants to know what flowers your bees are visiting, or a homeowner who wants to know what you can plant for honey bees, this book is for you.