In our third post, you'll read why fruit trees, hedges, and shrubs should be in every garden.
Early-flowering native shrubs and trees are particularly abundant food sources for wild bees. If you have the opportunity, plant suitable woody plants in your garden. The best time to plant is in autumn, but you can also plant certain shrubs well in spring. Willows, for example, with their early-flowering catkins, are ideal. You can get them at tree nurseries and garden centers.
Plant fruit trees
In autumn, you can plant fruit trees such as cherry, plum, almond, apricot, or peach trees. Some of these trees can also be bought in pots, allowing you to have fruit trees even on a larger balcony. By the way, wild bees also really like native maple species, ornamental cherries, and wild plums.
Leave old fruit trees standing
Even more important than planting new fruit trees is leaving old ones standing. These are often somewhat rotten inside, have knot holes, and thus offer many animals, including wild bees, food and shelter. Even if the harvest is no longer so abundant, nature relies on old trees. Basically: the older, the more valuable.
Even if the harvest is not so abundant, old fruit trees offer valuable habitat for insects.
The native hedge made easy
For an evergreen hedge, there are two excellent native candidates: Holly is suitable for rather shady places, and privet for sunnier spots. Both have small white flowers and offer plenty of pollen and nectar for native wild bee species.
Where the hedge doesn't necessarily have to be evergreen, a wide variety of other options opens up: Blackthorn, hawthorn, barberry, common buckthorn, and alder buckthorn are particularly valuable for wild bees. All these shrubs also produce nutritious fruits for native birds.
The forsythia may be pretty, but it is useless for our native pollinators.
Replace exotics
Many shrubs and trees may be pretty, but they are useless for our native pollinators. Among the most common are forsythia, hydrangea, thuja, and rhododendrons. Others may attract insects but are invasive and endanger native flora. These include cherry laurel, black locust, and butterfly bush. Replace these exotics with native species: you'll be amazed at how nature flourishes in your garden.
These woody plants are extremely popular with wild bees:
- Willows (e.g., Salix caprea, Salix purpurea, Salix viminalis) Attention: Ask for male specimens.
- Stone fruit (e.g., peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry, plum, sour cherry, mirabelle, almonds)
- Pome fruit (e.g., apples, pears, quinces, medlar, service tree, and rowan)
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna and Crataegus laevigata)
- Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
- Wild cherry (Prunus avium)
- Native maple species such as field, sycamore, and Norway maple (Acer campestre, Acer pseudoplatanus and Acer platanoides
These woody plants are extremely popular with wild bees:
- Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris)
- Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
- Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
Six practical tips for the right woody plants
Tip 1: For willows and holly, there are male and female plants. Only the male plants have pollen. Therefore, ask for males when purchasing.
Tip 2: Willows can also be propagated excellently from cuttings. Cut them in late winter, place them in a glass of water or stick them in moist soil until they root. Plant them in a large pot or in the garden in spring.
Tip 3: If you want to plant a fruit tree in your garden, choose a disease-resistant variety that you won't need to spray. Ask the specialist.
Tip 4: Always try to plant native trees and shrubs. These are always more valuable for nature than exotics.
Tip 5: If an old tree is slowly dying, leave it standing as long as possible. If it becomes a danger to surrounding buildings, just prune it back and refrain from felling it: even the dead trunk is extremely valuable for insects and birds.
Tip 6: If you eventually have to fell the tree, keep the rotten trunk. More on this in our next blog post.