News — Mason Bees

The continuous blooming of native plants to provide pollen and nectar - check! Mud-rich clay source and deciduous leaves nearby for building nests - check! Bee-safe nesting materials - check! Bee hotel installed - check! If you build it, they will come, right? Well, not necessarily. "Why aren't my bees nesting?" is one of the most common questions we receive from our bee raisers. We understand how frustrating it can be to take the time to create safe nesting habitats for solitary bees only to have them struggle to reproduce or to fly off in search of more desirable nesting...

Blog post featured on Twinkl in its article "Why Are Bees So Important?" Since you're reading this post, the chances are that you are already familiar with the concept of solitary bee houses and hotels. Solitary bees are important pollinators and a gardener's friend, and providing nesting habitat is a great way to help declining native bee populations - especially in the human environment. We understand getting started can be a bit daunting! Countless gardening and home goods stores sell bee houses (insert shameless plug for Crown Bees' bee houses here), and there is no shortage of blogs and websites with step-by-step instructions on...

First and foremost, we hope you are staying well. Despite the challenging circumstances of 2020, it was a big year for Crown Bees - not only for our team but for our community of bee raisers who helped provide bee houses and spread awareness of the importance of our solitary bee species. Thank you for making this year possible and for being part of this incredible community. A glance at what you had helped us accomplish in 2020: This year, you installed 4,000 new houses and supplied over 1.2 million unique nesting holes for hardworking bee mothers across the U.S. You raised over 1.2 million...

Growing food in your own backyard is an excellent way to reduce stress, save money, lower pollution, and improve your community’s food security Working with soil has also been shown to reduce depression and enhance your mental health while you learn new skills. Gardening with children is full of opportunities to learn about many subjects like ecology, biology, chemistry, and art. Our goal is to cover the key decisions in the planning process to make building your own victory garden easy for new gardeners. Remember to relax and experiment as you learn what works best for you.   Garden Site Conditions Start...