Thank the bees for somewhere between 15 and 30 percent of the world's food supply. Bees are the premier pollinators of the world, and without them, farmers worldwide would experience massive crop failures, especially for orchard fruits, berries, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers, and other bee-pollinated crops. Bees are truly a farmer's and gardener's friend.

But honeybees are in danger. According to National Geographic News, honeybee numbers have declined by nearly 50 percent in the last 50 years. While bee mites and diseases are partly to blame, the full reasons for the decline are still largely a mystery.

What can we home gardeners do? Plenty! We can plan gardens to support honeybees, and to attract native bees, which fruit farmers are coming to rely on as honeybees continue to decline. Many home gardeners and orchardists are putting out nests for native mason bees, which are effective pollinators.

First, we can use organic gardening techniques. Pesticides, whether chemical or natural, don't just target the "bad guys." They kill all insects, including helpful ones. Reduce your use of pesticides as much as possible, and if you do use even the natural pesticides, carefully target the plants that really need them.

Second, we can plan our gardens to be bee-friendly.

The most important feature of a bee-friendly garden is the array of flowers offered. Bees of all sorts need flowers for both nectar and pollen. Nectar is an energy source, and honeybees use it to make honey. Pollen is protein-rich food. But it does little good to poke a few zinnias in the bark dust like straight-backed soldiers. Bees prefer large swaths of flowers, where they can find plenty of food in one area. Plan for wide borders and beds and fill them with a wide array of flowers that are attractive to bees. Try to have something in bloom all during the spring, summer, and early autumn.

A bee-friendly garden isn't neat and manicured. It tends to be billowy, with many levels, and abundant flowers. It may even have weeds, if those weeds are attractive to bees. It also has patches of bare soil, which many native bees need for making burrows.

Bee gardens need places where bees can get water. Because of their small size, they have trouble drinking from small ponds and bird baths, and can easily get caught in the water's surface tension. Create a drinking area by filling a ceramic saucer with wet sand and sinking it into the ground. Keep the sand wet. Puddling areas like this will attract both bees and butterflies.

Finally, we can find out what kind of flowers will attract bees.

You may have noticed already in your own garden that bees are attracted to many blue flowers. Ceanothus, also called California lilac, is a bee magnet with its bright blue tufts of pollen-rich flowers. Borage, thyme, and mints are all popular herbs that bees favor. Lavender attracts a wide range of bees. In addition, many flowers in the aster family, such as daisies and coreopsis, will draw bees. True, they aren't blue, but many have special markings that show in ultraviolet light. Since bees see in the ultraviolet range, they can see these markings and go right for them.

For more information on bee gardening, see the Urban Bee Garden website at: http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/index.htm l The site includes a long list of bee-friendly plants.

Learn more about this author, Karen Bledsoe.
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