Mason Bees Spring 2025

RE: Mason Bees Spring 2025

dougw — Sun, 04 May 2025 17:15:28 GMT

The only flowers we have so far are Siberian Squill. As a consequence they are very popular with bees. I notice bees a lot more since we did our bee projects.

RE: Mason Bees Spring 2025

genebren — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:02:54 GMT

Hey [mention:dc11ece8204f479e8dce2a47a33b20d3:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] !

We have tried a couple of times to attach and house the Mason Bees, but alas, no success there.

My wife runs a vegetable gardening program for home-school kids at one of the local parks. One of the volunteers, has taken some classes in Mason Bee habitat management and housing. She had me hang a couple of simple houses (tin cans with bamboo tubes). The requirements on diameter and length of the tubs are pretty specific, but there are also a lot of other requirements including the direction of the opening, height from the ground and even the presence (or absence) of certain vibrations. I have not looked to see if we have had any success with attracting any bees, but I will try and remember to check this week.

We have been doing a lot of work to provide habitat for butterflies and bees in our yard. We have a good-sized organic vegetable garden, along with a pollinator garden with both nectar and host plants. We have removed more than half of the lawn area with Texas native plants and see are converting the remaining lawn area with native grass mixes. We have had a lot of guests the past couple of years, but we seem to be slowing down lately as we are in an extended drought.

Keep up the good work and hopefully you will get a lot of enjoyment for your efforts!

RE: Mason Bees Spring 2025

robogary — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 13:58:13 GMT

You've devoted alot of attention to attract those bees, I wonder if there is anything in the neighborhood that scares them off.

RE: Mason Bees Spring 2025

beacon_dave — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 19:16:32 GMT

Nice update. Also great to see how an e14 Design Challenge has inspired you in this way.

My Hellebores arrived this afternoon and have survived the road trip intact.

I think the Meteorological Office misread the instructions though as the 'watering' is occurring before planting so currently I now have 'houseplants' until the heavy rain stops.

I also found some more guides on bee-friendly plants:

RHS plants for pollinators

RHS Help grow a million bumblebee miles

Interesting to see Wild Oregano and Cat Mint on the list.

In the meantime I've put another 1,000 bulbs into the ground and added a trellis mesh to the garden wall to provide better support for them in the wind. I collected seeds and cuttings from last year's Salvia flowers and seeded them over winter and kept them indoors and one has started to flower this week. They can be planted with the Hellebores to hopefully give Winter/Spring and then Summer/Autumn flowering.

RE: Mason Bees Spring 2025

DAB — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:58:31 GMT

Very good update on a past challenge.

I hope you have great success in getting the bees to nest.