By: Michael Fox

“Do you have a registered Pollinator Link® garden?”

As a registered Pollinator Link® garden you can become a Bee Guardian and citizen scientist researching ways to repopulate our city gardens with native solitary bees and answer the question: “How do I to get native bees to move into my Bee Home?”

Brisbane City Council sponsored the initial solitary bee home trial in three northside parks That trial proved the design works, with local Leafcutter bees using Native sarsaparilla Hardenbergia violacea for nesting materials. The design also survived Queensland’s storm season with no damage to the nesting tubes.

We are now recruiting gardens for larger city-wide trial will confirm those results and provide a core resource of Leafcutter bee cocoons to start repopulating urban habitats. Nesting tubes will allow cocoons to be collected and shared with new recruits.

The trial will again use a mix of different nesting tubes from Mason Bees UK and Crown Bees USA. Three different coloured Bee Homes will be used to test variations in nesting success.

Your Bee Guardian pack will include guides on where to place your Bee Home, suggestions on local bee attracting plants and guides to survey your garden and using iNaturalist to collect your findings.

After the trial Bee Guardian packs are expected to sell for $88. So take advantage of the trial and order your Bee Guardian pack for $33: available to registered Pollinator Link® gardeners.

Want to participate in trial but not a registered Pollinator Link® garden? Register your garden today to take advantage of the trial price for you Bee Guardian home.