September buzz is bee-friendly gardening

BUZZ: The National Beekeepers Association has challenged councils to create bee-friendly gardens, with plants bees can forage on, as part of Bee Aware Month. PHOTO/FILE

September is Bee Aware Month and the National Beekeepers Association is encouraging communities to plant gardens with flora bees can forage on.

The organisation has offered wild flower seeds to councils all over the country, challenging them to dedicate a patch of land within their community to create a "bee-friendly" garden.

The South Wairarapa District Council has allocated various spots around the district to scatter the seeds and was the first authority in New Zealand to sign up to the initiative.

Chief executive Paul Crimp said it was important to raise awareness of how vital bees were to the ecosystem.

"We're absolutely in support of the initiative. Especially because there is a massive bee industry in the Wairarapa."

He said bees were key for helping native trees, gardens and fruit trees flourish and the initiative was a great way to raise awareness.

National Beekeepers Association chief executive Daniel Paul said the purpose was to educate people about what they could do to protect and preserve the bees.

"Bees are so critically important - not just to our economy but also to our homes and gardens."

He said bees supported more than $5 billion of the country's agri-industry exports annually, and they pollinated one third of all the food we ate.

"The bees in New Zealand are faring a lot better than in many other countries, where bee populations are often under threat, but we still need to promote and protect them.

"We need to plant bee-friendly plants for them to feed on, and also be careful with our use of pesticides and insecticides."

Mr Paul suggested home gardeners think about their spraying practices.

"Don't spray during the day if you can avoid it because bees are foraging and don't spray plants in flower because bees will suck up the poison."

Mr Paul said food for the bees was becoming more of an issue because a lot of land was going into forestry and dairy industries.

"It might sound strange but the fact that we manicure our lawns, keeping them closely cropped, also removes forage for bees," he said. "Gardens are getting smaller as residential properties get smaller. The amount of food sources for bees is not what it used to be because of these changes to our society and our rural agricultural programmes."

Between 20 and 30 district and city councils had signed up to the initiative, Mr Paul said.

"We want to preserve what we have got. We have got an increasing number of hives and bee keepers but we can't afford to be complacent."

Some nectar rich plants suitable for gardens include citrus trees, rosemary, lavender, manuka, thyme, sage, pohutukawa and sunflower.

Visit www.nba.org.nz/beeawaremonth for more information on Bee Aware Month.