Table 7 - In the Garden
The garden can provide very different habitats: grass and water areas, flower beds, dead wood, trees, and shrubs. A well-designed garden can therefore be a valuable habitat for endangered species such as (wild) bees, insects, and butterflies.
A bee-friendly garden offers as many different foraging plants as possible that bloom at different times of the year, thus meeting the nectar and pollen needs of our little friends throughout the year. As many diverse biotopes as possible, such as ponds, small piles of stones, natural fallow land, or dead wood, also provide them with shelter and breeding sites. In short: The more diverse your garden, the more colorful the species!
The Journey of the Honeybee
Busy little bee!
Up to 3 km away, diligent worker bees fly in search of food, while drones can fly up to 10 km during mating – and up to over 2,000 m height in the Alps. This is why you can find busy honeybees almost everywhere. Even when there is no beehive in sight nearby! At the next stations, we will encounter the honeybee more and more often – we will follow its journey from wild animal to one of the most important livestock for humans.
Search for and identify some foraging plants!
How many different foraging plants can you find here in our little garden?
You can find support in our "Scharnitzer Seed Mixture"!
Flower-rich and Bee-friendly
Forage and Pollination
To produce food and supplies, bees need flower pollen and nectar from flowering plants. This natural food source is referred to by beekeepers as "forage" – and they don't mean our traditional Tyrolean costumes by that. While collecting pollen and nectar, the flowers are inadvertently pollinated by the busy bees. The plant secures its survival, and the bee has food: Win – Win!
The bee season extends from spring until late autumn. As long as it’s not too cold to fly. Well-prepared and stocked with sufficient supplies, bees then retreat to their winter rest (more info: Station 12).
Therefore, plant species rich in forage are especially important for the preservation of biological diversity! In the Seefeld region, we plant as many unused slopes, traffic areas, and fallow land as possible with special forage mixtures for flower meadows and dry meadows – which you can also purchase for home in our information offices!
When does what bloom?
Check this plant database if you want to know exactly when you can sow which plant, when they bloom, and how high their nectar and pollen value for bees is.
THE MAJESTIC
mourning cloak
– Nymphalis antiopa –
- Characteristics: Wingspan of up to 75 mm – one of the largest butterflies in Central Europe, wings on the upper side velvet dark brown with a yellow edge and a blue spot series, wing underside is similar
- Habitat: in cooler deciduous and mixed forests, at forest edges and in gardens, native in the Alps up to an altitude of 2,000 m
- Life Style: In June, 100 to 200 eggs are laid around thin branches of birches and willows (= food plants), preferably over water bodies. After the last moult, the caterpillars leave the food plant and pupate under a often far away rock or on a wall. In July, the butterflies emerge, in autumn they retreat to their winter quarters.
- Observation Tip: easy to find when sucking nectar on bleeding tree trunks, especially on birch trunks, also in autumn on fermenting fallen fruit
- Observation Time: April to June and July to October
THE DEFENSIVE
Garden Wool Bee
– Anthidium manicatum –
- Characteristics: wasp-like coloration, up to 16 mm in size, females usually slightly smaller, belly collectors, males possess a trident with three sharp spines on the abdomen, which is also used for territorial defense.
- Habitat: prefers flower-rich forest edges, but can also be found in gardens and parks.
- Behavior: lives solitary. Males aggressively defend their territory against invading male wool bees or foreign bees; mating females are welcome. The brood cells are made from plant hairs – hence the name of this bee species! Females scrape leaf hairs from plants like mullein or sage with their mandibles and shape nests from them.
- Observation tip: not picky about plant choice, can be found on labiates such as bistort, sage, and dead-nettle.
- Observation time: June to September.
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