Here's how you can do your bit to keep bee populations healthy, get some free range pets, grow a herb garden and improve your home or office health. And get honey.
Straight up, don't think you need one of those picture perfect gardens with whimsical nooks and seats. That's up to you. Bees can't tell the difference. They simply need flowers and blossoms from which to collect pollen and nectar. And a little water is also handy, especially if it's a hot day.
Bees do have a preference for some colours over others - they prefer blue, purple and yellow flowers. This is a rosemary flower, and if you want to attract bees and grow a no fuss herb garden, think about growing a herb garden and plants that have flowers of these colours.
Plants like borage, lavender, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, sunflowers, dandelions, hypericum. (Don't limit yourself to these, just know that they are favourites and so will bring more bees. Personal design is important for personal and bee harmony.)
Honeybees usually forage within a radius of three kilometres, so if you don't have any bees yourself, someone within a radius of 3 km might have a hive or two, and if you living in Melbourne or Brisbane city, that might be one of the rooftop bee keepers. And you can buy their honey around town. How good is it to know that you may have helped make some of it.
You can also keep native bees if you live in parts of Australia like south east Queensland or northern New South Wales. They are excellent pollinators and many native bees are stingless and easy to keep on your balcony as their hives are small and they need very little maintenance beyond keeping them out of the elements. This hive is being split to create two - something that is important to keep native bee populations building. If you ever discover a native or european bee hive in your house, garden or neighbourhood, please don't try to exterminate them. Call a bee recycler.