Solitary Bee Houses for the Bees, and You

Des Res Mosaic Garden Solitary Bee House

As I've got a lot of solitary bees using my bee houses this year I thought I'd make them some posh houses to use, that are totally practical for them, but are also a nice bit of colour and design for you to look at too. The first one I've called the Des Res Solitary Bee House and it has a slate roof with a mosaic design of a bee against blue skies on both sides. The wooden tube is painted in pale sky blue with a white face. The tube is totally handmade and is specifically cut to be the exact size to hold the perfect length of tube for one solitary bee to make one whole nest in one tube. The bee will lay an egg at the far end, then gather some pollen to leave in with the egg (so the baby bee has something to eat when it hatches), then the bee creates a chamber for that egg using either a piece of leaf, if it's a Leaf Cutter Bee, or a plug of mud, if it's a Red Mason Bee. It'll repeat that process right up to the end of the tube where it'll plug the end and you'll know there's a nest in the tube and which bee made it. Fascinating.

Coastal Mosaic Garden Solitary Bee House

The second version of the posh bee houses is called Coastal Solitary Bee House. This one has a fully mosaiced striped roof using the colours of the coast with sea blues and greens, and sky blues, and pastel painted wood. All the bamboo canes are removeable from both designs so when the nests have hatched in spring, the tubes can be replaced. You can buy exact size replacements, or you can cut some yourself, ready for the bees looking to make their new nests in late spring / early summer.

Purple Bee Log House

Purple Bee Log House

Purple Bee Log House

I wanted to try and create a contemporary looking bee home. I came up with an idea to make a stylised 'log' shape to hold bamboo canes in, and I've created the Purple Bee Log House. The depth of the log means the canes are nice and long so the bees can get right in to lay their eggs in their chambers and they are safely away from the entrance. This house is designed for mason bees who are solitary bees (meaning they don't live in communal groups like honey bees in a hive). They are also non-aggressive bees, so they are perfectly safe to have around in the garden. The bees will lay their eggs in the cane, then block the entrance hole up to keep their growing youngsters safe until they emerges in spring.

Purple Bee Log House

One of the worst things that can happen to the eggs over winter is getting wet. The canes have been set back inside the log to give them an overhang of protection from the wood surrounds. The bee log needs to be sited facing as close to south as possible so that should protect it further from the prevailing winter weather. If the weather is really bad, the log can be taken down and stored somewhere dry and put back out in early spring when the young bees will hatch out. There are plenty of gaps in between the canes which could be used by ladybirds and lacewings to overwinter too. All in all, loads of beneficial insects could benefit from this log house, and your garden could benefit from free aphid eaters, and fruit, veg, and flower pollinators to give you a bumper crop and a great flower display.