It's World Bee Day - and I have Thoughts

As an avid gardener in a family of avid gardeners and professional landscapers, I have a healthy appreciation for pollinators, including the ever-popular honeybee. But as a historian, I also have Thoughts. 

When people talk about pollinators, everyone thinks of – honeybees. I’m sure we’ve all heard about the dropping numbers of honeybees, how swiftly they are declining, and how it is all the fault of mankind that they can’t survive in North America right now. In fact, a popular quote floating around says something to the effect of, “If all the honeybees die, we die too.”
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Oooh, scary stuff! After all, the numbers are correct. The loss of wildflowers and use of pesticides have taken a toll on their population in our modern world, not to mention the cold winters, hot summers, invasive insects such as mites, and predatory animals like skunks and bears that have always threatened them.​

​But what would you say if I told you that North America did just fine without the honeybee, thank you – for thousands of years?
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It’s the truth! Honeybees are not native to America. They were first brought as a hive swarm in the mid to late 1600s. But for a long, long time before that, American Indians had been growing corn, beans, squash, and cereal grains with absolutely no honeybees at all!

​How were they pollinated? I'm so glad you asked! Native bees - about 4,000 different species of them. Little shiny metallic green bees pollinated herbs and other tiny flowers. Fat, blundering bumblebees spread pollen of all types far and wide on their furry bodies. Small, solitary squash bees pollinated pumpkins, zucchini, and cucumbers, with one squash bee being more effective than 100 honeybees! 

And yet I have seen and heard people carelessly crush some small buzzing bee with the comfortable remark, “Oh, well, it isn’t a honeybee!” As if any bee but a honeybee is some unnecessary and potentially dangerous insect that needs to be eradicated, just in case. What's more, I know I have waved away those little green bees, and shooed off great big bumblebees, all while bemoaning that I couldn't find any 'pollinators' in my garden - because I was only looking for honeybees!
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When the honeybee was brought here, it did initially succeed. Honeybees spread all over the continent as cultivated hives swarmed and split and escaped the confines of tidy colonial gardens. As pioneers moved further west, they rejoiced to find a wild brood in a hollow tree, for it meant sweeteners for food and drinks and wax for candles. They thought nothing of splitting a tree open to harvest this bounty, a luxury we cannot afford in a day when hollow trees are not allowed to stand, and roadsides are sprayed vigorously to prevent blooming weeds (umm...wildflowers?!). 
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Still, maple sugar and maple and birch syrup were the most reliable sources of sweetener, produced by methods the Indians had developed long before the coming of the honeybee. Fresh and dried berries added flavor and a hint of sweetness to cooked dishes. Animals were a rich source of plentiful tallow for candle making; and, for special occasions, bayberries produced excellent lighting and a sweet smell without necessitating the breakdown of a hive.

​Are honeybees a good thing? Yes! I love honey, honeycombs, and beeswax. I think the cultivation of beehives is an excellent thing for you, your garden, and your world. Unfortunately, they are not native, and they struggle to survive in our harsh climate. They take care and attention and frequent replacements to succeed. And, historically speaking, we can live without the honeybee – especially if we learn to identify our native pollinators and start caring about all of them, not just the honeybee. Learn about the native bees in your state and region and do all you can to make sure that they thrive; and then, regardless of the survival rate for foreign bees brought from other climates, we and our gardens will thrive, too.