Celebrate Word Bee Day

On World Bee Day, we take a moment to appreciate our buzzing pollinating friends—the bees!

Australia is home to over 1,600 species of native bees from stingless bees to solitary bees like carpenter bees and leafcutter bees which have evolved alongside our unique native flora over thousands of years. The extinction of any one of these bee species could drastically affect some of our native plants, which could alter Australia’s environment.

Globally Bees play a monumental role in maintaining stable and healthy food supplies. Around 75% of our main food crops benefit from bee pollination, From apples to almonds, avocados to blueberries, and even coffee, canola and cotton - bees are essential to the pollination of these crops and many more.

Without bees, the productivity and quality of many crops would decline, leading to potential food shortages, higher production costs, and reduced agricultural biodiversity. Protecting bees and other pollinators is vital for ensuring stable and healthy food supplies and ecosystem health.

World Bee Day is a reminder of why these industrious insects are so important to our ecosystems and food sources.

Here are a few ways you can join in and help save the bees:

• Plant Bee-Friendly Gardens: Fill your garden with bee-friendly flowers, fruit, veg and herbs like lilacs, lavender, sage, mint, tomatoes, poppies, and native flowering plants like Callistemon, Correa, Grevillea and kangaroo paw.
• Support Local, Organic Food: Opting for local, organic produce from farmers' markets or roadside produce stands is a great way to reduce the demand for crops reliant on intensive agricultural practices that can harm bee populations and by choosing locally grown foods, you also help minimize food transportation kilometres.
• Choose Local, Raw Honey: Support local beekeepers by opting for raw, unprocessed honey produced in your area. We stock local honey at ASQ Garden & Landscape Castlemaine and Maryborough.
• Provide Water Stations: Leave shallow basins of fresh water in your garden for bees to access easily.
• Learn About Beekeeping: Talk to the producer of your local honey such as our mates at Castlemaine Honey and Gell's Honey. Both Gell's Honey in Maryborough and Castlemaine Honey have been beekeeping in central Victoria for 5 generations, both are locally family-owned businesses with a lot of experience and knowledge!

On this National Bee Day, let's take action to protect and support our invaluable pollinators.