I just received a shipment of leafcutter bees in the mail the other day. Aren’t they neat?
Or I should say, leafcutter bee cocoons. The silken cocoons come encased in the leafy cells the mother bee created when she laid her eggs.
Unlike spring mason bees, which start flying when temperatures reach 55°F, summer leafcutter bees like hot weather and emerge when the weather is consistently in the mid-80°Fs.
We’re moving into a week of warmer weather so I suspect they’ll be waking up just as their mason bee cousins start to wind down. I’ve had my native bee houses hanging in the garden for a few weeks and it’s such a joy to spot the mason bees buzzing around the borage and nasturtiums every day.
I love my native bee houses so much, in fact, that I’ve asked Crown Bees to give one of my readers an opportunity to own a native bee house too!
Owning a native bee house is an entirely different experience from owning a honeybee hive. Unlike honeybees, which live in highly organized colonies revolving around a single queen, native bees are solitary, so every female native bee is essentially her own “queen,” laying eggs and raising offspring without the support of fellow bees. She lives for only six weeks and nests in small holes rather than a hive. These holes can be found all over your yard in natural features like the hollow stems of pithy plants or the tunnels left by wood-boring beetles.
By hanging a native bee house in your garden, you help provide a safe place for native bees to nest and lay eggs. You also ensure that the next generation of bees will survive, since you can harvest the cocoons and clean the nests in autumn.
The beautiful bee house in this giveaway is a handcrafted wooden house called the Raindrop and it’s part of the Complete Raindrop Kit from Crown Bees, which includes the bee house, 80 natural lake bed reeds, 20 bee cocoons, and an accessories package for storing and protecting the cocoons (a $125 total value). This is everything you need to start keeping native bees! (And it couldn’t be easier — see my original post here.)
How to enter: Leave a comment below and tell me what kind of flowers, fruits, herbs, or vegetables you have growing in your garden this season that will feed your native bees, or could use their help being pollinated! To receive an additional entry, follow @gardenbetty on Instagram, and leave a second comment below indicating your Instagram username. You have two chances to win!
The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Friday, May 1, 2015. Winner will be drawn at random and announced the following week. Good luck!
Giveaway Rules
- Giveaway begins April 27, 2015 and ends May 1, 2015.
- No purchase is necessary. To enter, leave a comment on this blog post.
- Only US residents ages 18 and older are eligible to enter.
- Two entries allowed per person.
- Odds of winning are based on number of entries received.
- Winner will be drawn at random.
- If winner does not respond within 48 hours after time of contact, that entry will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn.
By the way, Crown Bees is currently running an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for native bee education. One of their perks is a Mother’s Day special that includes a bee cabin with wooden trays and leafcutter bees, and it’s offered at a discounted price off retail. They will expedite shipping in time for Mother’s Day — a great gift to consider for your garden-loving mom, aunt, friend, or even yourself!
This post is brought to you by Crown Bees. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support Garden Betty.
Update: A big thanks to everyone who entered!
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Anat from Arizona.
My new varieties of cosmos, love in a mist, zucchini, and nasturtiums would love some native bee action!
I have a garden of mostly herbs.
Garden Betty always enjoy your blog. This is an awesome giveaway thanks for sharing. I would love to win this.
I have blackberries, blueberries, many fruit trees, and a wildflower garden that can benefit from these little workers
Already following you on Instagram as @Impatientgardener
I’d mount this on the top of my screened-in raised vegetable garden where all manner of fruit and veg would mutually benefit from great pollinators.
I am growing tomatoes, peppers, spaghetti and butternut squash, watermelon and honeydew. I am also planting some bee friendly flowers to attract them to my garden.
I follow you on instagram as rusthawk1. Thanks, I would LOVE to have one of these!
In my yard this year I have rose of Sharon, easter lilies, petunias, a wall of nasturtiums, four o’clocks, tiger lilies coming up, very optimistic tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, chives, radishes, potatoes, sweet peas, chard and bok choy.
We will be planting apple trees, and always have lots of flowers!
Followed you on IG, my user is @mossmouse
Hi Linda…thanks for the chance to win this awesome bee house. We have almost 20 acres and a lot of it is wooded, but I do have a large veggie garden, along with many medicinal herb plants (my passion) and wildflowers. We also added fruit trees, raspberries, grapes, pecan and elderberry last year…and could really use the help of the precious mason bees. I do see them on flowers throughout the summer and have wanted to get into setting up some houses for them. I took a one day class on it earlier this year and they are just so fascinating. I’d love to learn more about their care and lifecycle stages.
@ravenscourtgardens is my instagram. Looking forward to sharing pictures with you and the bees : )
I have been looking into bee houses for native bees. This one looks great and I am repining it to pass the word on my pollinator board. We have so many flowering plants. We are in Houston were something can be in flower nearly all year long. The salvia greggii is a big hit, as is the mininata sage and the bluechip buddliea is going to start blooming soon. We have fruit trees and even got little apples on our espalier anna and dorset apples (hands clapping with glee). The bees also loved the Mexican sedum which is almost done. Looking forward to a post when you bee abode is full of bees. Happy spring!
I also follow you on Instagram. My username is @cawcourt 🙂
I have been busily researching mason bees since your last post! Last summer was my first summer gardening and I am tripling my garden size this year, plus adding berry bushes. I am a teacher and plan to dedicate my summer to my garden! I am sure the bees could with everything from my potted herbs to my peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
I have quite a few dwarf fruit trees, grapes, berries and tons of daylilies, peonies and irises. The bees are very happy here…..(so are the hummingbirds)
I follow you on Instagram, name is: writesoon
We have 4 gardens, 8 fruit trees, edible and native plant landscaping, a potted herb garden, and edible flowers inter-cropped throughout. Thanks for the chance.
I live in northern Illinois so my garden is just waking up. We have a veggie garden in our front yard as that is where the sun is. Thank you so much for all the info you have given us on native bees.It is an on going discuss in our neighborhood and your information has been very useful. We do need bees to help with the cherry trees.
and I followed you. @zarayoga
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity! My garden has the typical herbs-rosemary, cilantro, and basil-and some plants that I could really use the bees help with: cucumbers, pumpkin, acorn squash, and of course, my tomatoes.
We have fruit trees that really need the bees. Peach, Apple, pear, plum, apricot, along with natural wild flowers, garlic, and wild onions.
micachip
I have a few bee helpers for my citrus, olive tree, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon pineapple sage, and lots of flowers, but they could sure use some buddies. With more bees, my garden will grow so they may have more food and so can I!
I forgot I also have blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and a pear tree in my yard. There is a huge Wax-leaf ligustrum too. That feeds the bees and birds. The bees love my yard.
Following you on IG. My username is racheldoellman.
So excited for this contest! I have an herb garden with lavender, rosemary, spearmint, and lemongrass. Once it warms up, I’ll be adding to it. I also just planted some giant sunflower seeds & zinnias around the yard. I have several blackberry bushes, two apple trees, and a little strawberry patch. I’m still mapping out my summer vegetable garden, but I plan on having squash, cucumbers, and a variety of leafy greens. I also have a variety of flowers in my beds.
I have a lot of plants for the bees. I have beans (3 kinds), and many tomato plants along with fish peppers in my garden. In my yard I have rue (planted it just for the bees and butterflies) and a multitude of flowers. I love planting for the bees and butterflies.
What don’t I grow? This year’s new experiment is quinoa, which is incredibly pretty and technicolor. Flowers in the front yard and veggies in the side and back 🙂
Beautiful bee house! Would love to win! We are growing zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, zinnias, and lots of tomatoes and peppers!
also I follow you on instagram (jessmkrueger)!
tomatoes, onions, zucchini, lots of herbs!!
Tomatoes, mint, bee balm, milkweed, black eyed susans, etc.
I live 3 miles outside of the city of Detroit. I have limited space but make the most of my space with 4 raised beds and six self watering containers. I grow sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, carrots, garlic, oregano and chives. I also have a small butterfly garden with milkweed, purple cone flowers, black eyed susans, flocks and cosmos. I would love to see the bee population in my area rise!
I’m growing apple, peach, plums, pomegranates, lemon, olive, pear, fig, nectarine, herbs, greens, and strawberries. I’m also dry farming potatoes, onions, and garlic…all on my 1/5th acre.
Do wasps etc try to nest in these as well?
Occasionally solitary wasps will use the native bee house. But like solitary bees, they’re gentle and don’t sting. They’re actually beneficial predators in the garden, keeping down populations of aphids and other pests.
Any thoughts about yellow jackets? They look like bees but act like wasps.
Yellow jackets are social wasps, so they build their nests as colonies. The individual holes in a native bee house do not suit their nature.
I’m growing numerous edibles and fruit trees this year – tomatoes, tomatillos,peppers, squash, cucumbers,cherries,pears, plums,peaches,plums apricots,blueberries ans raspberries). I would love to welcome mason babes into my Eden!
Tomatoes, Peppers, Zinnia’s, Sunflowers, Borage, Cucs, Squash the main the minor to many to post 🙂
Blogged on Garden Betty: Win a Native Bee House Kit Courtesy of Crown Bees http://t.co/6Am5AekO6o