Bee Friendly

The City is encouraging you to plant bee-friendly plants in your garden to support the local bee population, our farmers, and your own flowering plants, fruits and vegetables. This web page provides a list of bee-friendly plants and links to other web pages to assist you in making your garden or yard a bee-friendly habitat. As each person joins, we hope to build what are called pollinator pathways - strips or blocks of bee-friendly yards crisscrossing the City and County.

Importance of Bees

Other than the popular honey bee which provides us with honey, these little guys are also important for supporting our local agriculture by pollinating fruits and vegetables. According to the USDA, bee pollination in the U.S is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value for our fruit and vegetable crops.

Bee

Colony Collapse Disorder

Whereas bees have served us for millennium, we can now assist them as they struggle to survive during the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This is a newly recognized phenomenon where 30% to 90% adults in a bee colony disappear. If CCD continues to spread around the world, the lack of pollination will threaten the livelihood of local farmers when plants are not pollinated. To encourage our local bee population, the City is recommending you plant bee-friendly plants in your yard to provide nectar to keep our bees healthy and happy.


Bee Friendly Plants for the Pacific Northwest

Full Sun

  • Davidson's Penstemon
  • Harvest Brodiaea
  • Idaho Fescue
  • Nodding Onion
  • Nookta Lupine
  • Thrift
  • Tiger Lily
  • Yarrow

Mixed Sun/Shade

  • Kinnikinnick
  • Oregon Grape
  • Red Columbine
  • Sword Fern
  • Thrift
  • Wood Sorrel
  • Yarrow

Full Shade

  • Deer Fern
  • Oregon Grape
  • Sword Fern
  • Trillium
  • Wood Sorrel