Bee-Friendly Plants that Kill Bees?!

Aug 22, 2013

To all the lovely people,

This article from Organic Gardening Gazette should make all of us pay more attention to what and where we buy our plants. The complete report is excellent and very detailed. I usually (not always) try and grow my flowers from seed I have saved. Please write with any questions.

Paul

 

Bee-Friendly Plants that Kill Bees?!

Planting flowers, shrubs, and trees—especially native ones—that will provide food for butterflies, bees, wild pollinators, and other wildlife is a wonderful way to beautify your yard and make the world around you a better place. But you might want to be careful about where you buy them. Friends of the Earth purchased "bee-friendly" plants at the major chain garden centers (Home Depot, Lowe's, and Orchard Supply Hardware) around the country and had them tested in the lab. Over half of the plants purchased contained neonicotinoids—a type of synthetic insecticide that is poisonous to bees and other insects and is especially dangerous to them as it gets absorbed by plants and distributed into the new growth, including the pollen insects collect and eat. One more good reason to add plants to the list of things you buy organic. 

Read the complete report here: http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/07/d/3118/Gardeners_beware_report_8-13-13-acknts.pdf

By Paul McCollum
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