Five ways you can support our pollinators

1. Buy local honey: Support our local bee keepers
2. Buy organic food: Avoid foods treated with pesticides
3. Plant flowers: Fill your garden, patio or porch with native, heirloom flowering plants, avoid plants treated with neonicotinoids
4. Create a bee safe habitat: Offer a shallow dish of fresh water; Avoid weed killers, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, chemicals
5. Support initiatives that protect pollinators: bees, bats and butterflies

Visit local garden shops for bee-loving plants, buy organic!
Learn more and support Pollinator Week, June 16-22, 2025.

Attracting & keeping bees

Mountain Feed & Farm Supply
Bees, supplies for homestead, harvest, preserve, organic garden supply, nursery. Locally owned.

Santa Cruz Arboretum
University of California Santa Cruz–education, tours, nursery.

Santa Cruz Bee Guild
Local group of beekeepers—hobbyists and professionals.

Selecting Plants for Pollinators
Handbook to learn all about pollinators in our local region.

More to know

California Plants for Native Bees
Bee loving native and garden plants from the Xerces Society.

Gaia Bees
Apiculture lectures, consultation, workshops, alternative nests.

How to Attract and Maintain Pollinators in Your Garden
Extensive list from the University of California Davis of plants that attract bees and butterflies.

Natural Bee Keeping
Based in the UK, information for natural bee keeping.

Secret Life of Native Bees
Blog post from Ensia magazine, learning about native bees.

The Melissa Garden
A honeybee sanctuary–gardens, resources, classes, information and private tours, north of SF.

The Pollinators Blog from Beyond Pesticides
Blog posts about saving bees, butterflies and all pollinators.

Urban Bee Lab & Best Bee Plants
UC Berkeley bee research, blog, gardening for bees.

Image: “Brown and Black Bee on Yellow Flower Nectar” from Pixabay, Pexel

Eco-guide to living lighter

5 Things you can do to protect honey bees

5 Things you can do to protect honey bees

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