Kate Frey

I enjoyed this book very much and will be referring to it often as I continue to improve my bee-friendly garden. Firstly, the photos of bees are amazing. You get a handful of the most common varieties in glorious, colorful close-ups. This is a bee-lovers bonus. There are, too, nice close-ups of flowers and of a variety of gardens/settings to promote ideas for your own design. While the photos made me rather jealous of what others have, the book made very clear that no matter what you have, show more you can use it to help bees. Everything counts.

The book went into more depth than I expected. I thought it would be just plants and garden designs, but it went into detail on bees' life cycles, nesting, why they like certain plants more than others, how and when they collect what they need, and even how/why plants offer nectar/pollen. I learned facts that amazed me and enriched my learning beyond just having a pretty flower patch that hopefully attracts bees. Included were lists of the best bee-attracting plants to put in your garden/property divided by region and zone. The only thing that disappointed me was that I did not come across info on which bees appeared in which regions. But an internet search will easily tell me what I can attract here.

A list of "citizen science" projects, organizations, seed sellers/nurseries, websites, and a bibliography and index complete the book, making it far more useful than just a how-to garden tool.

*This honest review was provided in exchange for a free copy of the book from bloggingforbooks.com show less

Spring is in the air so I am really excited to review this "garden" book. The cover looks so "Spring-like" and bright! So what comes to mind when you hear the words, "bee" and "garden" ? Most people will have the honeybee come to mind and flowers or vegetables in nice, neat rows. I was surprised to find out a bee-friendly garden does not need neat rows. Did you know that over 70% of the world's plants depend on the pollination services of bees? Why should humans care about bees? Well, bees show more are a big chain link in the earth Eco-system. If plants don't thrive because they haven't been pollinated, then animals will not be able to eat those plants and then humans will starve because plants and animals will not be available to eat. The book was well written and easy to follow. The author made a good case for why we all could do our part and make our spaces "bee-friendly." In any given region of the country, there are a variety of bee-friendly plants that can be combined to suit every taste and style. This good point was brought to my attention by reading this book, "Native plants are especially beneficial to the survival of bees. First and foremost, we need to grab whatever opportunities exist for preserving important native wildflower areas." This book is worth a read if you want a guide for your garden or care about the world we live in. I will be encouraging my library patrons to page through this beautiful book show less

When I saw this book I knew I needed to have it to add to our gardening books. It’s a very pretty book and filled with colorful photos of gardens, flowers and useful information about bees. I have wanted to start a flowering garden to attract bees, place it near the vegetable garden so we can get the benefits of the little pollinators. So far I have not started the flower garden but this book has me drafting up plans.

For one thing, I had no idea there were so many types of bees in the show more world. Also, I didn’t know they had a preference to certain colors such as blue or white. My preference would have been to plant bright red and pink flowering plants but I would do better with the cooler colors. This is quite an educational book and one that any gardener would find useful.

The section on designing your own garden appeals to me very much. There is a section (with good photos) on page 146 and 147 showing how to create a lawn replacement with shrubs and flowers which attract hummingbirds and bees. Not only has the water bill gone down (as there isn’t grass to take care of) but it created a beautiful English garden which takes half the time to take care of.

The back of the book sports a good index and a chart with plant names, a hardiness zone number and indication if the plant is native or not.

If you like to garden and have any interest in bees, check this one out.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book from Blogging for Books, all opinions are mine, nice and otherwise. show less

A lovely new book on pollinator gardens. Frey writes very well, and her science background is evident in this work. What is really nice about this book is the information about different bees. The photographs are lovely and the plant selections are very helpful. All practicalities aside, (and not to take away from the text), the photographs of bees were my favorite part.