How to Help Bees at Home (Without Becoming a Beekeeper)

One in three native bee species in the United States faces extinction risk (NatureServe / PNAS, 2025). Managed honey bee colonies dropped by 55.6% in a single year -- the highest loss ever recorded (Auburn University / Bee Informed Partnership, 2025). Both crises are real, both are accelerating, and both have solutions that start in your yard.

You do not need to become a beekeeper to help bees. In fact, adding more honey bee hives without adequate habitat can make the native bee crisis worse by increasing competition for limited floral resources. What bees need most is not more hives. It is more flowers, fewer pesticides, and undisturbed nesting habitat.

Here are 10 actions -- ranked by impact -- that anyone can take at home, starting today.

TL;DR: The three highest-impact actions: (1) plant native flowers that bloom across spring, summer, and fall; (2) stop using all pesticides, including "organic" ones like spinosad and pyrethrin; (3) leave bare soil and dead stems as nesting habitat. These three steps alone address the primary drivers of native bee decline: habitat loss, chemical exposure, and nesting site destruction. Everything else on this list amplifies those three.

1. Plant Native Flowers (The Single Most Important Action)

Habitat loss is the number one driver of native bee decline. Every square foot of lawn, concrete, or non-native ornamental plantings that you convert to native flowers is a direct gain for pollinators.

Native bees evolved alongside native plants. Their tongue lengths, body sizes, and emergence timing match specific native flower species. A garden of non-native ornamentals may look busy with honeybees, but it often provides little for the solitary bees and bumblebees that do most of the pollination work.

What to plant:

California hosts approximately 1,600 native bee species (UC Davis, 2024). A single well-planted urban garden can support 40-50 of them in a single season (UC Davis, 2024). The key is continuous bloom -- flowers from February through November.

Spring: California poppies, lupines, phacelia, ceanothus, manzanita
Summer: California buckwheat, native salvias, penstemons, milkweed, yarrow
Fall: Goldenrod, California fuchsia, native asters, coyote brush

Plant in clusters of at least 3-5 plants per species. Bees forage more efficiently when they can visit multiple flowers of the same type without flying long distances.

What to avoid: Double-flowered ornamental cultivars (bred for extra petals, often lacking pollen and nectar), invasive non-natives, and plants pre-treated with neonicotinoid pesticides.

You do not need acres. A single container of California buckwheat on a balcony feeds bees. A 4x4-foot patch of native wildflowers in a parking strip creates habitat where there was none.

our complete California pollinator garden guide covers native plants by season

2. Stop Using Pesticides -- All of Them

This is the highest-impact zero-cost action you can take.

Insecticides kill bees. This includes "organic" options. Spinosad and pyrethrin are certified organic and broad-spectrum lethal to pollinators. Neonicotinoids -- the worst offenders -- are systemic, meaning they are absorbed into the plant's tissue, pollen, and nectar. A bee visiting a neonicotinoid-treated flower ingests the poison with every sip.

Neonicotinoids persist in soil for months to years. Many nursery plants are pre-treated at the point of sale. If you buy plants from a garden center and put them in your pollinator garden without asking, you may be planting poison.

What to do instead:

Accept some pest damage. A chewed leaf is not a crisis.
Use physical barriers (row covers, netting) for vegetable gardens.
Hand-pick large pests. Blast aphids with water.
Attract beneficial predators (ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps) by planting native flowers -- they come for the pollen and stay for the pests.
If chemical treatment is truly unavoidable, apply at dusk when bees are inactive, and never spray open blooms.

Herbicides matter too. Killing "weeds" like clover and dandelions removes critical early-season forage. Bumblebee queens emerging from hibernation in February and March depend on these early bloomers. A "weed-free" lawn is a bee-free lawn.

3. Leave Bare Soil and Dead Stems for Nesting

About 70% of native bee species nest in the ground (USDA / Xerces Society, 2024). They need bare, well-drained, undisturbed soil in sunny locations. The remaining 30% nest in hollow stems, beetle holes in dead wood, and other cavities.

Modern landscaping destroys both nesting types. Mulch buries ground-nesting sites. Fall cleanup removes the dead stems where cavity-nesters overwinter. Leaf blowers blast away the leaf litter that insulates overwintering bees.

For ground-nesting bees:

Leave at least one patch of bare soil (4-6 square feet) in a south-facing, well-drained spot.
Do not mulch it, till it, or cover it with weed fabric.
If you see small holes with tiny mounds of excavated dirt, you have ground-nesting bees. Leave them alone. They are not aggressive and will not damage your yard.

For cavity-nesting bees:

Leave dead stems of perennial plants standing through winter. Cut them back in late spring -- not fall.
Maintain dead wood, logs, and tree snags where safe to do so.
Install a solitary bee house: untreated hardwood blocks or natural tubes (bamboo, reeds, hollow stems), 5-6 inches deep, mixed diameters (6-10mm), south-facing, with a rain-shedding roof.

For both: Stop cleaning up everything. The most bee-friendly yard is a slightly messy one. A "pristine" landscape is sterile habitat.

our native bee urban habitat guide covers nesting restoration in detail

4. Provide Water

Bees need water, especially in summer heat. Urban environments with impervious surfaces and no natural water sources create deserts for pollinators.

How to set up a bee waterer:

Place a shallow dish, saucer, or birdbath in a sunny spot near your garden.
Fill it with pebbles, marbles, or small sticks so bees can land and drink without drowning.
Refresh the water every 2-3 days to prevent mosquito breeding.
Muddy patches are even better. Many bees "puddle" -- they drink from wet soil to absorb minerals.

A dripping faucet or leaky hose end near plantings provides consistent moisture and keeps nearby soil damp for ground-nesting bees.

This takes five minutes to set up and costs nothing.

5. Buy Local, Raw Honey from Responsible Beekeepers

Where you spend money is a conservation action. Buying from local beekeepers who practice sustainable hive management keeps responsible apiaries in business and keeps pollinators working your local landscape.

Cheap honey from the grocery store may not even be real honey. A 2011 investigation by Food Safety News found that 76% of grocery store honey had all pollen removed -- a processing step that obscures origin and allows adulterated or transshipped honey to enter the market (Food Safety News, 2011). The European Commission estimated that 46% of honey imports tested in 2015-2017 were suspected of adulteration with sugar syrups (European Commission, 2018).

When you buy raw, unfiltered honey from a local beekeeper, you:

Fund responsible hive management (Varroa treatments, supplemental feeding, habitat stewardship)
Support the pollination services those hives provide to local agriculture and ecosystems
Get a product that actually contains the enzymes, pollen, and antioxidants that make raw honey nutritionally distinct from processed honey

This is one of the simplest ways to help bees. You were going to buy honey anyway. Buy it from someone who keeps bees well.

learn how to tell if honey is real and raw

6. Shrink Your Lawn

Lawns are ecological dead zones. A mowed turf monoculture of non-native grass provides zero forage, zero nesting habitat, and zero ecological value for pollinators. Americans maintain 40 million acres of lawn -- the single largest irrigated "crop" in the country (NASA / NOAA, 2015).

You do not have to eliminate your entire lawn. Convert even a portion:

Parking strip: Replace turf between the sidewalk and curb with native wildflowers. Many cities now encourage or even subsidize this.
Backyard corners: Let one corner go "wild" with native grasses and flowers. Mow a path around it for a managed look.
Garden beds: Expand flower bed borders into lawn areas, prioritizing native species.
Clover lawn: Replace part of your lawn with white Dutch clover or microclover. It fixes nitrogen (eliminating the need for fertilizer), stays green without irrigation, and produces flowers that feed bees all summer.

Every square foot of lawn converted to native plantings or clover is a net gain. And it reduces your water bill, mowing time, and fertilizer costs.

7. Choose Bee-Safe Products

The products you use in and around your home affect pollinators even when you are not thinking about gardening.

Lawn care services: Most commercial lawn care programs include insecticides and herbicides applied on a schedule. Ask your service provider if they use neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam) or broad-spectrum insecticides. If they do, switch to a provider that does not, or cancel the service entirely.

Flea and tick treatments: Many topical pet flea treatments contain fipronil or imidacloprid, which wash off into soil and water where they harm pollinators. Talk to your veterinarian about alternatives.

Nursery plants: Ask before buying. Were these plants treated with systemic insecticides? The Xerces Society maintains a list of nurseries that sell pesticide-free plants (Xerces Society, 2024). If a nursery cannot tell you whether their plants are treated, shop elsewhere.

Mosquito spraying: Municipal and private mosquito abatement programs often spray broad-spectrum insecticides that kill bees alongside mosquitoes. If your area sprays, advocate for targeted larvicide treatments (which affect only mosquito larvae in standing water) instead of broadcast adulticide spraying.

8. Support Bee-Friendly Organizations

Financial support funds research, habitat restoration, and education at a scale that individual gardens cannot match.

Organizations doing impactful work:

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (xerces.org): The leading nonprofit for pollinator conservation in the U.S. Funds habitat restoration, publishes planting guides, and advocates for pesticide policy reform.
Bee Informed Partnership (beeinformed.org): Collects and publishes national colony loss data used by researchers and policymakers.
Pollinator Partnership (pollinator.org): Runs National Pollinator Week, distributes regional planting guides, and funds research.
California Native Plant Society (cnps.org): Protects native plant communities that pollinators depend on.

You do not need to write large checks. A $25 annual membership to the Xerces Society funds pollinator habitat restoration across the country.

learn how honey bee conservation intersects with native bee protection

9. Educate Your Neighbors and Community

Individual gardens matter, but landscape-level habitat is what sustains pollinator populations. The more people in your neighborhood who plant native flowers and stop spraying pesticides, the larger the effective habitat for bees.

Low-effort advocacy:

Share native plant starts with neighbors during spring planting season.
Talk to your HOA about relaxing lawn maintenance rules that prohibit "messy" yard elements native bees need.
Request native pollinator plantings at your children's school, your workplace, your church, or your local park.
Push your city council for pollinator-friendly landscaping on public land -- median strips, park borders, municipal building perimeters.
Support pesticide reduction ordinances. Several California cities have already passed pollinator-protection policies limiting neonicotinoid use on public land.

You do not need to organize a campaign. One conversation with one neighbor about why you planted native buckwheat instead of grass can change the trajectory of one more yard.

10. Leave Swarms Alone (and Call a Beekeeper)

If you see a cluster of honeybees hanging from a tree branch, fence post, or building overhang, that is a swarm. It is a natural part of colony reproduction. The bees are docile -- they have no hive to defend and are loaded with honey for the journey. They will typically move on within 24-72 hours.

What to do:

Do not spray them. Do not poke them. Do not call pest control.
Call a local beekeeper or your county beekeeping association. Most will collect swarms for free. These bees get rehived and contribute to local pollinator populations.
If the swarm has moved into a wall void, attic, or other structure, contact a beekeeper who specializes in cutout removals. This is more involved than swarm collection but saves the colony.

What not to do:

Do not hire an exterminator to poison the bees. Pesticide companies will spray the swarm and charge you for it, killing thousands of pollinators in the process. A beekeeper will collect them for free and give them a home.
Do not seal the entrance to a hive in a wall cavity. Trapped bees will find another exit -- often into the interior of your house.

Swarm season in Northern California runs from March through June. If you see bees, make the call. Every swarm captured is a colony saved.

learn how to start your own hive if swarm season inspires you

Why These Actions Matter: The Numbers

The case for individual action is backed by hard data.

34.7% of native bee species in the U.S. face extinction risk (NatureServe / PNAS, 2025).
55.6% of managed honey bee colonies were lost between April 2024 and April 2025 -- a record (Auburn University / Bee Informed Partnership, 2025).
1,600 native bee species live in California across 82 genera (UC Davis, 2024).
Native bees are 2-3x more efficient pollinators than honeybees per visit (UC Berkeley / Cornell University, 2023).
Native bees pollinate 80% of flowering plants worldwide (USGS, 2024).
One-third of food crops depend on bee pollination (USGS, 2024).
The pollination value of bees to U.S. agriculture runs $20-30 billion per year (NIFA/USDA, 2024).
A well-planted urban garden supports 40-50 native bee species in a season (UC Davis, 2024).

When you plant native flowers, stop spraying pesticides, and leave nesting habitat intact, you are not performing a symbolic gesture. You are directly addressing the three primary drivers of pollinator decline at the scale where it matters -- your own property.

What NOT to Do (Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes)

Do Not Put Honey Out for Bees

Feeding honey to bees can spread American foulbrood, a devastating bacterial disease that kills entire colonies and contaminates equipment. Wild bees do not eat honey at all. If you see an exhausted bumblebee, offer a few drops of plain sugar water (1:1 ratio, white sugar and water) on a small dish near the bee. That is all.

Do Not Buy a Hive on Impulse

Beekeeping takes knowledge, commitment, and ongoing management. An untended hive becomes a Varroa mite reservoir that spreads disease to every bee colony within a 3-mile radius. If you want to help bees but do not want to manage a hive, the nine actions above do more good than an unmanaged hive ever will.

Do Not Assume "Save the Bees" Means Only Honeybees

Honeybees are one species. An important one, but one of 4,000+ in the U.S. alone. Buying a "save the bees" tote bag and keeping a backyard hive while your lawn is sprayed with neonicotinoids and mulched into sterility is not conservation. It is branding. Real bee conservation means habitat for all species.

Do Not Relocate Ground-Nesting Bees

If you see small holes in bare soil with tiny mounds of excavated dirt, those are ground-nesting bees. They are docile, temporary (most are active for only 4-6 weeks), and beneficial. Do not fill in the holes, pour water on them, or try to "move" them. They are exactly where they are supposed to be. Wait them out, and they will finish their nesting cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I help bees if I live in an apartment?

Container gardening works. A single pot of California buckwheat, lavender, or native salvia on a balcony provides forage for bees. Window boxes with native wildflowers (phacelia, clarkia, baby blue eyes) attract pollinators even on upper floors. Beyond your balcony: buy local raw honey, support bee conservation organizations, advocate for native plantings in your building's shared outdoor spaces, and choose pesticide-free products. You do not need land to help bees.

What flowers do bees like most?

In California, native buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) attracts more pollinator species than almost any other single plant. Native salvias, California poppies, phacelia, penstemons, and ceanothus are also top performers. Across all regions, bees prefer single-flowered (not double) blooms in blue, purple, yellow, and white. Flower shape diversity matters -- include flat, tubular, and composite flowers to serve bees with different tongue lengths. See our full California pollinator garden guide for season-by-season recommendations.

Is it safe to have bees in my yard?

Yes. Native bees are overwhelmingly docile. Ninety percent are solitary and most physically cannot sting or have stingers too small to penetrate human skin. Honeybees and bumblebees can sting but rarely do so while foraging in gardens -- stinging is a defensive behavior reserved for protecting their nests. You can garden, eat, and play alongside foraging bees without concern. People with known bee sting allergies should keep an epinephrine auto-injector on hand as a precaution, but the risk from garden foragers is minimal.

Should I put out sugar water for bees?

Only for an individual exhausted bee you find on the ground -- place a few drops of 1:1 white sugar and water near it. Do not leave out open containers of sugar water as a regular feeding station. Open sugar water attracts honeybees in large numbers, can trigger robbing behavior between colonies, may spread disease, and does nothing for native bees that feed on pollen and flower nectar. The best way to feed bees is to plant flowers.

Does buying organic help bees?

Organic farming uses fewer synthetic pesticides, which is better for pollinators. But "organic" does not mean pesticide-free. Organic-approved insecticides like spinosad and pyrethrin are broad-spectrum lethal to bees. Buying organic produce is one step, but the bigger impact comes from eliminating pesticides in your own yard and buying from farmers who practice integrated pest management. Local farmers markets let you ask growers directly about their pest management practices.

How do I know if there are native bees in my yard?

Look for them. On a warm, sunny day (above 55°F / 13°C), watch flowering plants for 10 minutes. You will likely see bees that are not honeybees: small metallic-green sweat bees, fuzzy bumblebees, tiny dark mining bees, fast-moving leafcutter bees. Look at bare soil patches for small nesting holes (1/4 inch diameter or less) surrounded by tiny mounds of excavated dirt. Check hollow stems and dead wood for bees entering and exiting small cavities. If you have flowers and undisturbed ground, you almost certainly already have native bees.

The Simplest Summary

Plant native flowers. Cover every season.
Stop spraying everything.
Leave bare soil and dead stems alone.

Those three actions address habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and nesting site destruction -- the three forces driving pollinator decline. Everything else on this list amplifies them.

You do not need a bee suit, a hive, or a biology degree. You need a patch of dirt and the willingness to let it be wild.

California's 1,600 native bee species and the managed honeybees that pollinate our crops are running out of safe places to eat and nest. Your yard is the last place on Earth that you fully control. Use it.

Want to support bees with your purchasing decisions too? Explore our raw honey, honeycomb, and royal jelly -- all produced through sustainable beekeeping practices that prioritize hive health and pollinator welfare.