Bee Friendly Garden Award

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Bee Friendly Garden Award

Self Assessment Sheet

To qualify for the award which you can display in your garden, you need to satisfy seven of the criteria listed on the application form – see below.

The lists of flowers are only examples. You don’t need these exact ones, just bee friendly flowers for all three seasons.

Print off and complete the this form, including your contact details and return it to Shenstone Community Library to pick up your Bee Friendly sign, then put it somewhere that lots of people will see it. You can also obtain blank forms from the parish office in Main Street

If you can, take a picture of your garden with the ‘Bee Friendly’ sign and send it to Shirley O’Mara at Admin@shenstone-staffs.gov.uk

She will include the picture on the Parish Council Facebook page.

General guidance

  1. Water

Water in your garden can be of any size from a small container to a large pond Just make sure that the edges are not deep so that bees can take water without drowning.

  1. Wild Flower patch

Wild flower area can be any size but obviously the bigger the area the more attractive it will be for bees.

  1. Area of long grass

Similarly, the area of long grass can be of any size. Most people just leave a strip of lawn uncut for the season.

  1. Bee Hotel

The bee/bug hotel can be any shape size or type. There are several that are easy to make yourself and there are commercially available ones. Follow these links for lots of good ideas.
Make your own Bee Hotel.
How to make a bumblebee pot
How to make a Bee Hotel

  1. Seasonal Flowers.

The examples shown on the form are not meant to be the only flowers acceptable. There are many more that will fulfil the criteria of being bee friendly. The important thing is to try to ensure that you have at least two flowering plants at any time in each season. As a general guide blue flowers attract bees. They prefer ‘single’ petalled flowers as opposed to ‘double flowers’. If you have a small gardens consider seasonal containers with bee-friendly plants.

  1. Relax on weeding

It’s easy to forget that many of the plants we consider weeds actually do a brilliant job at supporting wildlife. Lawn clovers and even dandelions will attract and provide pollen and nectar for bees.