Bee hotel

There are many ways to encourage native bees into the garden.
When most people think of bees, they think of the introduced European honeybee, but Australia actually has more than 1,600 species of native bees.

The Australian bees play a vital role in pollinating our native flora and are also increasingly being valued as a pollinator for agricultural crops. Their small size allows them to easily negotiate small flowers and in many cases they are more effective pollinators than honeybees.

The best way to encourage them is to build a bee hotel from old pipes and pieces of wood. This is a good example in a garden not far from our place.