World Bee Day: A Pollinator Gardening Reading List

Happy World Bee Day!

To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face, and their contribution to sustainable development, the United Nations designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

The following reading list features reference books that offer specific guidance on how to select and tend to plants that will attract more bees in southern and mid-Atlantic garden zones.

---

Pollinator Gardening for the South: Creating Sustainable Habitats
By Danesha Seth Carley & Anne M. Spafford

Everyday gardeners, along with farmers, scientists, and policy makers, share serious concerns about ongoing declines in bee and other pollinator populations, and here Spafford and Carley deliver great news: every thoughtfully designed garden, no matter how small, can play a huge role in providing the habitat, nourishment, and nesting places so needed by pollinators. This book explains all you need to be a pollinator champion.

North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook, Second Edition
Edited by Kathleen A. Moore & Lucy K. Bradley

This national award winning book, now in its second edition, was developed especially for Master Gardener volunteers and home gardeners and is a primary source for research-based information on gardening and landscaping successfully in North Carolina and the Southeast. It explains the “why and how” basics of gardening from soils and composting to vegetable gardening and wildlife management. Advice on garden design, preparation, and maintenance covers all types of plantings including lawns, ornamentals, fruits, trees, and containers.

Chesapeake Gardening and Landscaping: The Essential Green Guide
By Barbara W. Ellis

Barbara W. Ellis’s colorful, comprehensive guide shows homeowners, gardeners, garden designers, and landscapers how to make gardens and landscapes more eco-friendly in the Chesapeake Bay watershed region (Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and part of West Virginia). Here, mid-Atlantic gardeners, from beginners to advanced, will find the essential tools for taking steps to make their gardens part of the solution through long-term planning and planting.

The Bees of North Carolina: An Identification Guide
By Hannah Levenson & Elsa Youngsteadt

The Bees of North Carolina is a beginner’s resource designed to help quickly and generally identify native bees in North Carolina. Developed by experts at NC State Extension, it provides an overview of some of the most common groups of bees in the state. The guide will help users learn to recognize bees according to key characteristics and, eventually, according to their overall appearance.

Climate Change Gardening for the South: Planet-Friendly Solutions for Thriving Gardens
By Barbara J. Sullivan
(Coming September 2022, available now for preorder)

Barbara J. Sullivan offers an essential, easy-to-use resource for adapting to the new realities of climate change, which will empower southerners to grow beautiful gardens while using gardening practices that contribute to solutions for our shared environment. It covers key topics of interest to gardeners today including how to design a climate-friendly garden that will attract songbirds and pollinators.