h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://honeylove.org/national-honey-bee-day/

For what it's worth, The Xerces Society has lists of pollinator-friendly plants for many countries, including the US. and the U.K.
http://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/plant-lists/

What I like about bees is their peaceful relations with other bees.
If two or three bees want to visit the same flower, they seem to take turns. I see them hovering in the air, waiting for their turn, or zig zagging across my yard, visiting a hosta blossom, then across the lawn to squash blossoms.

I look out the window every morning and see blossoms wiggling here and there. There's no wind, so the bees must be busy.

(Tiptoe away to let them do their thing. )

Thanks for sharing!

I love bees and I get very excited when they visit my plants in my back garden. I have been adding plants that will be not only beneficial to bees (of all types) but butterflies and moths.

Thank you Paul for the websites. I am waiting for an order of wildflowers which include: Michaelmas daisies, foxglove, thyme, teasels and a Dwarf Green Carpet Juniper to join the spindle, Rowan, Holly, crab apple tree and wayfaring trees.

Bless you, Rosa. I know most of those plants. I'm happy to know that many people are planting things that the pollinators need. <ok.

Another thing they need is nesting sites. Having little patches of weeds or even a bit of bare ground works for some of them. (They all have different nesting styles.) Research indicates that organic farms have more pollinators, not just because of the lack of pesticides, but also because organic farms are apt to have a few patches of weeds. Many bees are not choosy . Dandelions and Queen Anne's Lace and clover provide nectar at times when nothing else if blooming.

Happily, everybody benefits when there's always *something* blooming throughout the growing season, from the first daffodils to the last Montauk Daisies and Mums. It astonishes me to think that,in early Spring when the maple blossoms and crocuses come out, there are tiny bees already at work to pollinate them.

Pierce mentioned some willows he plans to plant. There must be five or six butterflies that use willow leaves to feed their caterpillars. Queen Anne's Lace was imported to the U.S., and now grows everywhere in north America. It's fabulous host plant for butterflies. We have a lot of it growing here.