Are you wanting to raise bees in your yard but feeling daunted by the requirements of a hive or mason bee rearing? You may already have some beneficial bees nesting in your garden right now.
As pictured here, these friendly carpenter bees like to burrow in spent berry canes such as last year's raspberries. They don't harm the living plant, choosing only dead tissue.
How can you foster these pollinators for next year? Leave a foot or more on your clipped spent berry canes when the fruiting is done for the season. This will give these bees a possible roost to seek out for laying their eggs for next spring.
This piece is part of the collection
Creating native bee habitat in the landscape
