*NEW* Bee Garden

There aren’t many things I like better than sitting out in the orchard where my bee hives are positioned. Watching the honey bees as they come and go, buzzing from flower to flower is meditative and calming in ways I never imagined. On a warm, sunny afternoon, if my family can’t find me in the house, they know exactly where I’ll be, content and calm, and always reluctant to leave.

With the exception of those that are allergic, I think everyone should have a bee garden, large or humble, filled with flowers that are the favorites of bees. Early blooming flowers and especially late bloomers (for the end of the growing season, when the bees are especially hungry and wanting to store up for Winter); providing forage for the pollinators is the best thing a person could do to help insure the survival of my favorite insect. Even a single pot of a long-blooming perennial could mean one bee gets enough food to make it home at the end of a long day of searching.

If you don’t know which flowers to plant, or if you don’t have a green thumb and fear killing anything you put in the ground, check with a local garden club or horticultural society. Sometimes all you need is a bare bit of ground and some native plant starts and you can have a maintenance-free food plot for bees. I have a combination of both native flowers (which require very little intervention for them to thrive), and showy hybrid perennials that I find a my local garden center. I have heirloom plants and shrubs and humble wildflower mixes all planted side by side. The more I put in the flower beds, the less room there is for the weeds to take root. The flowers make my yard pretty, but most importantly, I feel good about feeding all the varieties of bees that live in my area. Including, but not limited to, my own sweet honey bees.

Stitch Count: 192 by 74
Model stitched with one thread over two on Picture This Plus 40ct. Legacy

Using flosses from:
Classic Colorworks: Onionskin, Honeycomb, Pine Needles
The Gentle Art: Green With Envy, Maple Syrup, Dark Chocolate, Ruby Slipper
Weeks Dye Works: Concord, Pink Sand

Conversion to DMC included with the chart.

This design is now available in my etsy shop, and will soon be in the hands of my distributors and the shops on my auto ship list. If you prefer to bypass etsy and order directly through me, you can send me an email: beth@heartstringsamplery.com