Reddit reviews Gardener's Supply Company Mason Bee House
We found 8 Reddit comments about Gardener's Supply Company Mason Bee House. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
BEE A FRIEND- Boost your garden's productivity by providing a happy home for peaceful, non-stinging Mason bees. Slightly smaller than honeybees, mason bees are incredible pollinators. Each one visits as many as 1000 blooms per day — 20 times as many as a honeybee!BENEFITS- Hang this natural bamboo house against a tree or wall where it will get morning sun and attract mason bees. Female bees fill the bamboo tubes with their eggs, and nectar and pollen for the young to eat.MATERIALS- Made from natural bamboo and if unprotected outdoors will generally last two yearsBees are not includedMEASUREMENTS- 5-3/4" W x 10" H x 5-3/4" D
If you really want to support bees, the ideal arrangement is a couple of flowers native to your area and suited to your sun/soil/water that will bloom over the course of the spring-fall. Honeybees aren't native to North America, but they share many food sources with native bees and butterflies. Eliminate or limit spray and weed killer so pollinators can feast.
Spring
Redbuds are ornamental trees that bloom early in the spring. Eastern Redbud- native to parts of the eastern and midwest US. Western Redbud- native to mountainous parts of the western US. Texas/Oklahoma Redbud- a cultivar of Eastern Redbud meant for the less arid parts of TX/AR, pink flowers
Pussy Willow is a small tree or shrub with cottony, non-colorful blooms in April/May. Cool architectural look for people who don't love colorful flowers. Native to parts of the northern US, prefers wetter soil. Try not to laugh at the name. Article from a beekeeper on planting Pussy Willow.
Spicebush is a big deciduous bush with yellow flowers in the spring and green leaves in the summer, butterfly host plant (so let bugs eat it), native to eastern US and parts of the Central US and Ontario.
Violets are massively important to Fritillary butterflies and they bloom in the spring/summer. They lay their eggs on violets and the larvae feed on the leaves. Without violets, there are no Fritillary butterflies. Violets have a tendency to spread, so unless you need groundcover, you may want to put them in a planter rather than straight in the ground. The common blue violet is found in the Eastern and Central US and can be grown in a lot of different conditions. It is also the traditional flower of lesbians (not a joke). The prairie violet is common in parts of the Great Plains and Southwest. It does well in drier soil and does not spread aggressively. The cream violet is an aggressive spreader that thrives in drier ground from New York to Arkansas. The marsh violet needs very wet soil and lives in parts of the Eastern US.
California lilac- lots of different types native to CA. Non-native lilacs are also very popular with native insects. Miss Kim is a popular small variety More info. Betsy Ross is a bigger lilac suited to warmer US climates More info pdf. Declaration is a bigger lilac suited to cooler US climates More info pdf.
Summer
Black eyed Susans are native in the Eastern US into parts of the Mountain US.
Virginia Sweetspire- small deciduous bush with loads of long white flowers in the summer and great fall color, native NJ to TX.
Butterfly Weed looks a bit like a weed, but it attracts both bees and butterflies. It grows from parts of New England into parts of the Southwest US.
Shrubby St. John's Wort is a hardy shrub with yellow flowers native to parts of the Eastern and Central US.
Bees tend to like hydrangea, although most are not native to the US. Popular non-natives include Limelight hydrangea, [Annabelle Hydrangea](http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=s9400, and Bigleaf Hydrangea. Oakleaf hydrangea is native from North Carolina west to Tennessee, and south to Florida and Louisiana. Popular varieties include Snow Queen Oakleaf Hydrangea, Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea, and Gatsby Gal Oakleaf Hydrangea.
Penstemon/Beardtongue is a favorite of both bees and hummingbirds. It prefers drier soil with full sun. Foxglove Beardtongue is native to PA, OH, IL, IN, AR, and parts of neighboring states, Pineleaf Penstemon is native to AZ and NM, and Davidson's Beardtongue native from the Sierra Nevada Range in California and Nevada through the Coast and Cascade ranges.
Flame acanthus- red blooms, attracts hummingbirds, native to Texas
Fall
Asters are great fall blooming flowers, but they can sometimes look a bit straggly, so they tend to look better at the back of a flower bed. Examples- New England Aster (native from New England into the Great Lakes and parts of the South), Aromatic Aster (native to parts of the Midwest and Texas), Smooth Blue Aster (native to much of the Northern US), California Aster (native BC to CA).
Sneezeweed can bloom into October, is native to much of the US and despite it's name, it doesn't bother allergy suffers.
American Witch Hazel- small tree, yellow blooms, flowers super early in the year, native to most of the eastern and parts of the midwestern US. Better photo
Homes for Native Bees
Lots of people are suggesting more people try beekeeping, but beekeeping is an intensive hobby. Adding a shelter for a native bee to your yard is far easier (but no honey). Put a Mason Bee house like this in a sunny part of your yard. Or build one yourself.
If you want to help you can put up something like this in your backyard.
That's specifically for Mason bees but the blog I saw it on and the product description says they're the hardest working pollinators, visiting 20 times as many flowers as honeybees in a day.
I didn't build mine. You can buy them.
Something like this, though I don't know how much you'd need to space them out if it's a lot of land.
https://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-Supply-Company-Mason-House/dp/B007XIWY1A
Those are for mason bees! I’ve read mixed reviews online—some of them can be good, but some are made with pipes that are too narrow, and the bees get trapped in them trying to turn around. Get ones that look like this instead of this. I don’t have one, but my parents do, and they love it. They have lots of those little guys buzzing around.
Clay is the worst. That is all.
It's a bee house for mason bees https://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-Supply-Company-Mason-House/dp/B007XIWY1A
By solitary bee hive, do you mean something like this mason bee house?
If so, put it somewhere it'll get morning sun and about 5 feet high.
looks like the sort of hive they make for mason bees.
https://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-Supply-Company-Mason-House/dp/B007XIWY1A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497532336&sr=8-2&keywords=mason+bee
Any neighbors who do use pesticides? We really need to save the bees, including native bees & making pesticides that hurt them illegal should be step 1... but with our current President I can't imagine they will do so.
I keep several mason bee houses in my yard to help the native species. Im terrified of wasps and killer bees (Ive been attacked once), but native bees never harass me.
For those interested, I have something similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-Supply-Company-Mason-House/dp/B007XIWY1A/