The Buzz About Bees and Deer
Posted on April 17 2018
Bee production is serious business - we're talking about a $20 billion industry according to the American Beekeeping Foundation.
Certain plant commodities including almonds, cherries and blueberries rely on bee pollination in order to grow; and bees themselves rely on pollen from flowers not just for food, but for survival.
There is just one problem, bees are deer do not mix well. In fact, deer like eating the flowers that bees love to travel to for pollination.
Bees are attracted to certain flowers including:
- Bee balm
- Black-eyed Susan
- Stonecrop
- Goldenrod
- Butterfly Bush.
- Purple coneflower
- Joe-pye weed
- Lavender
The good news for bees is that some of these plants deer hate eating and smelling! For honey bee pollinators, keeping deer away from flowerbeds means planting lavender and other deer-resistant flowers. This will help bees pollinate and produce delicious honey.
Keep deer away from bee hives will also mean a reduction in deer ticks around hives. To keep deer away, it's advised to build deer fencing around bee hives and pollinator flowers for bee production to blossom.
