This is a guest post by Alice Whitley. Alice is a freelance writer who covers a variety of topics on the outdoors, nature preservation, and sustainability.
For people who enjoy natural environments, there are few things as rewarding as finding a hobby that involves the outdoors. The harmony of natural environments can only truly be realized and appreciated if you become part of it yourself, and this is the source of the appeal for activities such as beekeeping. However, for some people, beekeeping is a bit too time-consuming to be a realistic hobby or activity. In these cases, it might be a nice idea to turn to gardening – but, with an eye toward engaging with the environment a bit more. Instead of simply growing a selection of favourite plants, consider the following ways to inspire natural harmony between plants and creatures, and to enjoy your garden more thoroughly.
Bring In The Bees
As any beekeeper or nature enthusiast understands, nothing quite demonstrates the harmony of an environment in its natural state like the relationship between bees and flowers. Bees are fascinating creatures as it is, which is why people enjoy keeping them in colonies – however, again, if this proves to be too time consuming or demanding of a hobby, it is still possible to bring bees into your garden. The simplest way to do so is simply by heading to Marks and Spencer or the nearest gardening centre to pick up a few flowers known to be particularly appealing to bees. Sunflowers and marigolds are generally good selections, but there are many flowers that are likely to attract bees naturally to your garden.
Bring In The Birds
Similarly, you can seek to improve the natural feel of your garden, and enhance its ties to the environment, by attracting birds. The most common ways to do this are by keeping a birdhouse or two in the garden space, or by having a birdbath present. These elements in your garden not only provide props that make the garden more appealing, but also bring in a variety of birds, inviting more nature to your garden. Additionally, birds help to provide natural, harmonious control of pests that can harm your plants – which in turn saves you from having to introduce harmful pest control substances to the environment.
Make It Comfortable
Finally, once you have designed your garden space to be appealing to nature, it is also worthwhile to make it appealing to you. Many gardens are designed without any thought to people actually spending time in them – they are merely decorations in these instances. However, if you are focused on joining your garden with the surrounding environment as a hobby and practice, it is also important to provide places to spend time within the garden space. Whether it’s a single bench, or a partially enclosed gazebo, or even a simple walkway depending on the size of your garden, inviting a human presence is another aspect of creating a pleasant natural garden environment.
Roger – Thanks Alice.
If you liked this post you might be interested in my Bee-Friendly Plants page.
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The plants that the bees go crazy over in my yard are the Russian Sages and Guara. Both plants bloom from spring till fall and if you cut spent blooms will just produce more. I cut huge masses of the sage to bring in the house too. They smell wonderful. They’re both perennials and the guara actually thrives in poor soil and full sunlight. It’s a lot of fun to watch the bees work the guara since the flower stems are so long and must be similar to an amusement park ride for them.