To attract mason bees, all necessary habitat elements — food, water, mud, nesting holes, and safety — must be within a small ...

Editor's Note: This story was originally published in 2019. When Dyan and Mark Eisenberger decided to make their garden in Columbia more pollinator-friendly, they started by removing nonnative plants.

Rent Mason Bees provides the house, nesting block and cocoons ready to pollinate a garden for the season. “Without a hive or a queen to protect, they are non-aggressive, low-maintenance and are known ...

Bees need us and we need them. In your yard, plant a succession of spring, summer and fall flowering plants so bees have a continual source of nectar. In return, they help pollinate plants in our home ...

MASON BEES ARE SMALL. They don’t look like what we think a bee should look like and in fact more closely resemble a fly, although some are an attractive metallic greenish-blue. While they might live ...

The harvest looks like nothing more than little piles of dirt. Here inside Landis Homes’ woodworking shop, they might be mistaken for sawdust. Look closer to see tiny circles of mud, a yellow ball of ...

The orchards, gardens and natural areas of the Yakima Valley depend on pollinators to flourish. Managed hives of non-native honeybees pollinate the orchards. After blossom drop, these hives are moved ...

You've been reading about the shortage of honeybees. Now, the dwarf fruit trees you bought last winter are in full bloom. It's too late for the urban gardener to worry about bees this year, but you ...

Across the West, growers are turning to a tiny, overlooked insect to pollinate crops: the native mason bee. In Washington state, Watts is leading the movement. Researchers call mason bees “the new ...

Mason bees are “adorable little bees gaining popularity with gardeners and farmers because of how easy they are to care for and their incredible pollination skills,” she says. “Before honeybees were ...