Our Bee Friendly Plant Expert

Last Friday we had Laura come to see the 'bee inquiry group' from the nursery. She was talking to us about ways we could attract more bees to Ilam School, primarily through their food source, flowers!

It turned out, we knew more about bees and their roles than Laura did and she said that she had learnt a lot! However, we learnt a lot from Laura about the kinds of flowers bees like and how to grow them.

We are going to grow some of the flowers bees like from seed over the winter and then plant them into some of the gardens around our school. 

Bees love blue and violet flowers and they see in ultra violet light. 

They like yellow flowers too.
Bees also recognise patterns in flowers.

Herbs bees like: Borage, Rosemary, Lavendar, Sage, Fennel

Perrenials bees like: Salvia, Gaura 'Ballerina Blush', Sedum

Vegetables bees like: Bees like all vegetables that flower

Companion Plants for Vegetables and Herbs: Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Calendula, Poppies

We came up with some important reasons for planting a bee friendly garden:

1. We can provide them with food. They take the pollen and turn it into honey to feed their hive and us!

2. If we plant flowers, it also encourages other insects like wasps, butterflies and ladybirds.

3. Bees pollinate flowers to create other flowers. When the bee fertilises the flower it turns into seeds to create more flowers. Some of the seeds grow into seedpods that we eat such as apples or pumpkins.

4. Without bees, we would lose 1/3 of the world's food supply.

5.  It would make Ilam School more attractive.

6. Teachers and kids could go out to observe the garden, the flowers and the insect life.

7.  People will think Ilam School is nice and we will attract more kids.