Generally speaking, bees dream of a year-round supply of diverse, flowering plants that offer nectar and pollen. They also dream of having enough nesting opportunities — such as dead plant stems, insect hotels, mounds of sand or clay, and decaying wood. Like humans, bees also dream of having access to water, especially in winter and spring, to dilute stored food for their larvae.

Year-round supply of nectar and pollen

Bees can get nectar from almost all forage plants — it’s their fast food. But pollen is a different story. A flower also wants to reproduce and does so by getting pollen from its male part to the pistil of a female flower. To do this, it attracts bees—who carry out this job in exchange for nectar. The more pollen a bee takes away “by accident”, the greater the chance of pollination. Hence, the challenge for the plant is to optimise its shape to ensure success.

The more variety of plants and flowering shrubs used in public planting, the more bees can collect pollen and thus reproduce. That’s biodiversity!

Spring – early flowering bulbs!

Spring is a crucial time for early-season bees. As they emerge from winter, they need food immediately. Thankfully, many flowers can support them during this period.

Crocuses (Crocus): Possibly bees’ favourite flowers. They bloom early and provide high-quality nectar and pollen. Very popular with honeybees and wild bees. The early blooming Crocus tommasinianus is particularly loved.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis): Their early bloom makes them perfect for bees just awakening from winter.

Verver Export’s range includes many early flowering bulbs ideal for supporting early bees. They’re great for perennial borders and can also be planted (mechanically) in grass. Large, open grassy areas in parks are perfect spots for these early bloomers.

Nesting Opportunities

The life cycle of honeybees and wild bees differs, and so do their nesting needs — especially in winter.

The honeybee lives in colonies of 10,000 in winter up to 60,000 in summer, is social, and has a strict division of labour. The queen lays eggs, drones fertilise new queens, and workers take care of everything else (each worker performs different tasks as she ages). They store honey to survive winter and times of scarce food.

Wild bees, on the other hand, do not store food, live mostly solitary lives, and cannot rely on workers. Bumblebees do live in small colonies of up to 50–500 individuals. Only queens survive winter and start new colonies in spring.

Wild bees typically live for just a few weeks. In contrast, honeybee queens can live 5–6 years, summer workers 3–6 weeks, and winter bees 3–6 months. While honeybees are housed by beekeepers in hives, wild bees seek nesting spots in the ground, in crevices or in hollow stems like bramble, elder or mullein. About 30% nest above ground and 70% underground.

Dead Plant Stems

Many bee species nest in dead wood and hollow stems. Verver Export supplies perennial concepts combined with flower bulbs for public landscaping. Our maintenance advice is to leave dead plant material until just before bulb flowering in spring. We also recommend leaving pruning waste as mulch—and to give any remaining larvae time to emerge.

Nesting Mounds, Walls and Banks

Various bee species dig their nests in soil, usually in bare or sparsely vegetated sunny spots. They prefer steep, sun-facing surfaces such as banks along paths or ditches, roadside verges, embankments, or sandy/clayey slopes.
Flat terrain often lacks such features. But small soil interventions can encourage wild bee populations—even attracting species not previously found in the area.

Dead Wood in Sun and Shade

Dead logs and branches are valuable as nesting, breeding, or feeding sites for many plants and animals.
In sunny spots, they’re used by bees and digger wasps. In shaded spots, fungi and hoverflies develop in and on them, along with beetles, spiders and woodlice. So avoid removing dead wood from parks, gardens or nature areas. For safety reasons, the material can be relocated to a more suitable place if needed.

Water

In early spring—technically still winter—bees will fly on sunny days to visit the first spring flowers.

Honeybees convert nectar into honey for long-term storage. To consume this honey, it must be diluted again—this requires water.

Honey with more than 50% sugar is diluted by bees before consumption. In early spring, the colony still relies on stored food from the previous year. Since there’s not yet enough fresh nectar, bees need water to dilute honey for feeding the colony and the larvae.

On hot summer days, bees collect water to regulate the internal climate of the hive. Honeybees distribute water across brood combs, fanning their wings to speed evaporation and cool the nest.

Bee Bar

Since bees don’t travel far in early spring, it’s essential to have a safe water source nearby.
A bee bar is a water reservoir (or basin) covered with moss or another surface that prevents bees from drowning.