Bee Better: How You Can Support Pollinators in Your Own Backyard

Honeybee collecting pollen from a flower.

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.

Almost Famous

Did you know that not all bees live in hives like honey bees? In fact of all the bee species, over 90% are solitary bees. Even though they aren't as famous honey bees or bumble bees, solitary bees are vital pollinators.

Solitary bees are not just bees who have left the hive and are now living the single life. Unlike the honey bee, every female solitary bee lays eggs and raises offspring on her own, without the support of workers or drones. Some species of solitary bees do live in a type of social group, with bees building separate nests close to each other.

There are over 200 species of solitary bee. They are non-aggressive and rarely sting. This makes them perfect pollinators that you can invite to make a home in your garden. You can even make a home for them - a simple bundle of hollow canes and twigs securely bundled together should do the trick. If you’d prefer, there are many pre-made bee homes available to purchase.

One type of solitary bee often found in our area is the mason bee. Mason bees are remarkable pollinators – just 250-300 females can pollinate an entire acre. During the early spring months, you can attract mason bees by providing nesting tunnels, plenty of bee food in the form of fruit trees, berries, flowers and vegetables, and a mud source. Mason bee houses can be bought or made from wood, thick paper straws, or hollow reeds. One of our Girl Scout volunteers, Carissa Poore, even built us a mason bee home to have on the park grounds for her Gold Award.

If you’re looking to learn more about mason bees, check out Crown Bees website. There you can sign up for Bee Mail, and they’ll send you a monthly reminder with timely information about caring for your mason bees. Charlotte's Quest Members are invited to our June First Friday Fire which will be all about bees, and includes an evening hike, campfire and s’mores! As a member, you join a community supporting a thriving, natural environment in Northern Carroll County. Not a member? No problem! You can join on our website.

The Surprisingly Helpful Spider

It's common for people to be afraid of spiders, especially when movies, television shows and comics have led us to believe that spiders bite and attack. But in reality, they rarely harm humans; less than .01% of the 43,000 spider species have ever killed a human being. In fact, spiders are surprisingly helpful.

A spider web.

Spiders are arachnids, a class of arthropods that also includes ticks and scorpions. Spiders and other invertebrates make up 98% of animal species, and the remaining 2% of vertebrates-- including humans-- depend of them for survival. Spiders have two-part bodies; the front is called the cephalothorax while the back is called the abdomen. Attached to the abdomen are finger-like appendages known as spinnerets, from which spiders produce silk. Though not all spiders build webs, every species produces silk. They use the strong, flexible fiber to climb, create egg sacs, wrap up prey, and complete other necessary tasks. Almost all adult spiders have eight legs; although, in some species, like the camel spider, their legs can grow large enough to take on the appearance of extra pairs of appendages. Insects make up a majority of spiders' food source, which keeps control of pests in and around homes, yards, gardens, and crops. Their webs are particularly adept at catching small flying insects such as mosquitos.

There are more than 45,000 known species of spiders, found in habitats all over the world, and 32 unique species reside in Maryland. Many of the spiders in Maryland possess venom, but the black widow is the only native Maryland spider that is dangerous to people. Although spiders are venomous, this venom has medical uses and is being researched as a safer alternative to painkillers, which could be used as antivenom in cases of harmful spider bites or to treat strokes, and muscular dystrophy.

If you would rather not share your home with spiders but don't want to harm them, there are several natural ways to deter them from visiting. Peppermint oil, cinnamon and vinegar are all affective spider repellant..

Are you a spider enthusiast? You can contribute to the growing library of spider pictures and educational information on SpiderID.com or just check out some shots of the spiders identified in Maryland. Check it out here: https://spiderid.com/locations/united-states/maryland/

We hope you can join us this Friday October 1st at 7pm to learn more about spiders (and bats) at our First Friday Fire. There will be an evening hike, campfire and s'mores, too! Register online for this event.