Attracting bees, butterflies and bats into your garden is a natural way to help control insects and pollinate vegetable and fruit crops. Probably the most important thing you can do to attract beneficial wildlife to your garden is to always have clean water available. Shelter for Bees To invite bees into your garden, plant a garden that blooms throughout the growing season. Herbs, including bee balm, or monarda, are quite attractive to bees. Consider providing a hive. It's easy to create a simple one. To do so, place cotton balls on top of a flat rock. Cover the cotton with an inverted 6" to 8" clay pot. Prop the rim of the pot with a twig or stick to create a small opening. Weight the pot by covering the drainage hole with a rock. This has the added benefit of keeping the bees dry when it rains. A skep (figure A) is an old-fashioned beehive in the form of a woven basket. Commercial beekeepers no longer use skeps but rather series of stacking wooden boxes.
Other Kinds of Houses Specially designed ladybug houses (figure B) encourage these beneficial insects to hibernate in your garden by providing a safe, dry environment.
Butterfly houses are boxes with vertical slits for a front door and tree bark in the bottom. To shelter toads, which eat insects by the thousands, partially bury a clay pot on its side in a shady garden spot. Place the toad abode near a water feature. Frogs appreciate a ceramic frog "sun deck," where they can warm themselves, placed near a water source. Bats are voracious consumers of insects. Bat houses (figure C) should be placed 15' to 20' high on a pole or on the side of a building, facing south or southeast. Be patient: it may take a year or two before bats move in.
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