Open Association of Landscape Industries
Bee Baths
Bee Font garden bowl: detail
Discovering a nest of wild bees in my garden spurred me to this post. This is the second nest created in a forgotten clump of grass cuttings. Clearly they love it and find it a perfect environment. The first nest was quite modest, saucer sized, right in the middle of a small border. This latest is huge tucked against my green house wall. Both nests sited on bare earth with the dropped grass cuttings seeming to create a sturdy thatched roof and integral nest material. 
Yesterday, whilst going in for a late tidy up I unwittingly lifted the cap off the new one sending the bees - possibly a couple of hundred...or so it seemed - immediately swarming up and I shrieked dropping the lid back on. Macro seconds after the wee shock, I was delighted ....the simplest, wildest bee home!! They are very pretty round bees but no intimate shots unfortunately. This humble snatch in flight shows one hovering up from the roof I topped with some new grass cuttings to make amends for my clumsy intrusion. There is a wonderful drone coming from within the clump too...a musical bee box!
This year I created a very shallow garden bath bowl especially for small creatures. The shallow font really came out of noticing how often insects drown in deeper bowls of water that have no landing posts, especially in dry, hot weather where there is little in the way of available moisture droplets. Not much in the way of dry weather now!!... but the bowls combine an interesting table top waterhole with all year round aesthetics for the garden.
Bee Font detail 2
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Add a Comment
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Comment by Helen Nock on February 27, 2013 at 11:38 -
I missed your last suggestion about the painted holes John. I'm going to share this.. Thanks :)
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Comment by Helen Nock on June 18, 2012 at 13:27
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Thank you both Phil and Gareth :)
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Comment by Fenlandphil on June 17, 2012 at 9:34 -
Lovely work as always Helen.
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Comment by Gareth Wilson on June 16, 2012 at 17:10 -
That's great your bee font would brighten up any garden
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Comment by Helen Nock on June 16, 2012 at 13:26
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Bee embedded hangings!! Could look very attractive too. Thanks John :)
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Comment by John on June 16, 2012 at 12:53 -
Which might be why they like your bee bath !
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Comment by John on June 16, 2012 at 12:52
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That is a great idea, and must be the most attractive bee bath in the
world.
Did you know that if you take the corner square bit of wood from
broken pallets and drill about 20 holes, varying the diameter occasionally,
and then attach this to a shed, you will get solitary bees all living together.
Apparently painting different bright colours around each hole makes them more
appealing.
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