The Bee-Friendly Garden

I know the majority of my book reviews are of cookbooks, but sometimes, something catches my eye even more so than food does!

I’ve been a tree-hugging nature-&-animal-loving semi-granola girl for most of my life. Granted, I definitely could do better in that department, butttt…I love the outdoors and am pretty saddened by how much damage we’ve done to the world, so I like to do what I can to reduce my carbon footprint wherever possible.

The Bee-Friendly Garden

 By Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

Genre: Gardening
Pages: 214

The book is divided into 6 chapters (I’ll be providing a brief summary of each of em’!) and starts off with an introduction on the benefits of having a bee-friendly garden. Bees are our world’s most prolific pollinators–over 70% of the world’s plants depend on them, including many nuts, fruits and vegetables. (And we can’t forget about the honey!)

Our Friends, the Bees

This section discusses the different types of bees, their preferred type of food (their visual spectrum includes the short wavelength ultraviolet range beyond human vision, so they tend to like blue, yellow, or white flowers more so than reds or pinks). It also talks about healthy habitats for bees.

Plants for Your Bee-Friendly Garden

Learn more about the different types of bee plants to grow, including annuals, perennials, biennials, cacti, shrubs and trees, plants that attract beneficial insects + hummingbirds, as well as the plants that bees don’t like! I don’t personally have a garden [yet] since I’ve been moving so much over the last decade or so, but this section provides a lot of great information and tips on gardening that I’m sure will be helpful for my future backyard!

Bee-Friendly Plants for Edible Gardens

If you want an edible garden, this is the chapter for you! This talks about the different herbs, berries and fruit trees that bees like! The annual herbs include:

• Anise hyssop
• Basil
• Borage
• Cilantro (check out my recipe for Chinese Parsley Soup!)
• Marjoram
• Za-atar

Bee Garden Basics

This section includes information on a lot of considerations that would go into starting up your own bee garden–for instance, patch size, the number of species of plants to include, how to create healthy soil, etc.

Designing Your Bee Garden

There are a lot of different garden designs that are great for bees–this discusses the different types and gives tips on plant placement, and how to work with what you have (e.g. backyard, hedges, hiding fences, adding bee-friendly plants to existing gardens) in whatever climate you’re in.

Beyond Your Own Backyard–Becoming a Bee Activist

1. Protect and Promote Native Plants
2. Identify and Protect Nesting Habitat
3. Participate in Citizen Science (for instance, check out the Great Sunflower Project, Bumble Bee Watch!)
4. Teach Others About Bees

The book contains so many gorgeous photos of different plants/flowers and gardens! At the end of the book, there are more resources provided, and you’ll also be able to check out the regional plant lists for bee-friendly plants for the different climates and regions throughout the United States!

Get your own copy on Amazon! :]

• Have you ever read The Bee-Friendly Garden? 
• Do you have a garden? How bee-friendly is it?

You can also find out more information about our dwindling bee population (:[!) at The Honeybee Conservancy!

I rely on Tianna (one of my blog friends) to find out more about green beauty products! Here are two cruelty-free companies that I’d like to share with you! :]

• YAROK hair products use a blend of organic + all-natural botanicals that are consciously sourced and responsibly harvested. They meet 100% of all vegan requirements, and are free of alcohol, paraben, sulfates and cruelty to animals. Instead of testing on animals, they test their natural formulas on willing salon clients! :P 3% of their annual profits go toward the Pachamama Alliance, a non-profit organization that protects over 10 million acres of rainforests in the Amazon.
• BeeKind products contain no parabens, phthalates, petrol-derived ingredients, mineral oil, urea, or propylene glycol, and are free of artificial colors or dyes. They use recyclable packaging and skin-friendly formulas, and they support honey bee + sustainable pollination research at the UC Davis (represent!)!

Check out my other book reviews!