
By: Jesse Clark
Start with this: no bees, no blueberries. No squash, no tomatoes, no wild strawberries tucked between grasses at the edge of a trail. Pollinators, especially bees, are the quiet architects of our food systems, and their numbers are dropping fast. Maryland’s native species are disappearing from fields, forests, and neighborhood gardens—not all at once, but steadily, in ways that are easy to miss until the blooms go quiet. You don’t need a sprawling farm to make a difference. Whether you plant a few wildflowers, change how you garden, or even take up beekeeping, the solutions start close to home.
Plant Native Wildflowers
Skip the impatiens and marigolds. If you want to help pollinators thrive in Maryland, plant wildflowers that are native to your region. These plants (think wild bergamot, eastern columbine, or golden ragwort) aren’t just pretty, they’re perfectly matched to the seasonal rhythms and dietary needs of local bee species. They bloom when bees need them, produce nectar that makes sense metabolically, and require little to no babying once established. It’s a low-maintenance, high-reward way to get your hands dirty.
Provide Nesting Sites
Most native bees don’t live in hives. They’re solitary, quiet workers that need dead wood, dry stems, or bare patches of soil to lay their eggs. That’s where you come in. By letting part of your garden go a little wild or adding a bee hotel to your yard, you provide nesting resources to an increasingly fragmented habitat. Just make sure to place those bee hotels out of the wind and rain and keep them clean to avoid disease build-up. This kind of unmanicured approach might feel odd at first, but the bees couldn’t care less about tidy edges.
Avoid Pesticides
It seems obvious, and yet people still reach for the spray bottle at the first sign of a blemished leaf. But if you’re aiming to help pollinators, you must remove pesticides from your lawn and garden routine. Most pesticides—yes, even the ones labeled “natural”—pose serious risks to bee health. They affect not just the bees directly exposed but also future generations through contaminated nectar and pollen. Instead, encourage biodiversity to fight pests naturally, or get familiar with hand-picking and squishing. As Cornell’s impact center explains, healthy gardens start with healthy pollinators.
Support Local Beekeepers
Not everyone wants to tend hives, and that’s perfectly reasonable. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the cycle. Buy your honey, wax wraps, or pollen from folks who keep bees responsibly. By choosing to purchase sustainable honey from local beekeepers, you put money back into systems that value the pollinators’ well-being over industrial efficiency. Ask questions at your farmer’s market, look for minimal processing, and don’t be afraid of honey that crystallizes—that’s how you know it’s real. The Maryland State Beekeepers Association even keeps a list of trusted producers.
Start a Beekeeping Business
Beekeeping might sound scary, but in truth, it’s a thriving, modern pursuit with real economic potential. With a few hives, a little space, and the right know-how, you can harvest honey, render beeswax, and cut beautiful slabs of honeycomb for sale. There’s even a growing demand for local pollination services, especially in fruit-heavy regions like central Maryland. According to this list of green business ideas, beekeeping checks all the boxes: it’s eco-conscious, scalable, and community-oriented. Plus, there’s something almost meditative about working with bees.
Educate Others
Conservation doesn’t stop with you. Once you’ve learned how to build a bee-friendly garden, share that knowledge with your neighborhood, school, or community group. Host a pollinator day at your local park or give away seed packets with instructions for planting. Invite people to tour your native garden, mistakes and all. The Central Maryland Beekeepers Association even encourages residents to volunteer in pollinator outreach efforts, which can be a great way to meet like-minded folks. The more you demystify the process, the less intimidating it becomes for someone else to jump in. The movement grows when you speak up.
The Buzz Starts With You
Saving bees isn’t about grand gestures or massive campaigns. It’s about what you do with your own two hands and the ten square feet you call yours. Whether that’s planting Joe-Pye weed, skipping the lawn spray, or selling jars of backyard honey, the impact multiplies. You’re helping something ancient, essential, and exquisitely vulnerable find its footing again. And once you start paying attention to the bees, it becomes impossible not to care about everything else they touch. The buzz, as it turns out, is just the beginning.
Begin a journey of discovery at Charlotte’s Quest Nature Center, where every trail leads to a new adventure and a deeper connection with the natural world!
Jesse Clark is a traveler, so she’s no stranger to experiencing wanderlust and that strong desire to travel. She created Soulful Travel because she believes that travel is good for the soul.