New home, new garden, new trees... no bees!

[Andromeda42]

Hi everyone! You were all so helpful when I was trying to find a birthday present for my mother the gardener that I figured I'd come back and see if you could help with my new problem - my own garden

I'm new to gardening. Really new. I've managed to keep an aloe plant alive for a few months now, but that's really the extent of my experience lol! And now I have a new house on 1/4 acre and all that's here is sod.... so plenty of room to do all sorts of things, but here's my main problem:

I am deathly afraid of bees or anything in the bee "family" (wasps, yellowjackets, etc) This is really not something I can get over and boy I've tried. A bee can buzz 10 miles away and I'll lock myself in the house until I'm darn sure it's gone. Nope, not exaggerating. I once saw a wasp sitting on my front porch and didn't leave the house for the entire day. It's sick, and I know it... but I just can't handle them... at all. (You ever see a 6ft tall 30 year old woman run screaming down the road like a little girl because she heard a "buzz"? Come over my house some time LOL)

So what I'm looking for are some ideas of plants/trees/bushes that won't make my house bee-friendly. I don't want to kill them off, but I'd rather not invite them to stay either.... so I'm thinking flowers are probably out. Being that I'm on the east coast of central florida I'm mostly looking for things to give shade and privacy since my neighbors are a tad closer than I'd like them to be Oh and low maintenance.

I don't mind doing the research on this, but if you all could just point me in a direction so I know where to start I'd really appreciate it!

[Grey]

Well, there are always palm trees - you do want to cut off the bloom if they have one long before it really becomes a bloom and starts attracting bees. But they come in enough shapes and sizes you could go very tropical with your yard without needing any fancy flowers.

Grasses - aztec, monkey grass, lots of different colors of grass - you could stagger them as a border and even as the main focus of that bed - so like, a lower growing monkey grass, with a taller aztec grass, followed by a taller Japanese reedgrass (red).

Everything else I can think of offhand draws bees or isn't as easy to grow. I'll add more if I think of them.

[mdvaden]

Are you referring to bees, or to wasps and yellow jackets?

Because yellow jackets can be predatory and feed on aphids. That means that you would need to know about trees and shrubs and aphids and yellow jackets.

For us, bees have never been a problem - it's always been yellow jackets that are a nuisance, even in the house.

[opabinia51]

If you are having problems with a lack of bees, I'm not surprised. Bee populations in North America are at risk right now andt their populations have been adversely effected.

[Newt]

Hi Andromeda,

Knowing their habits will also be helpful for you. That way you can avoid accidentally encouraging them to visit your garden.

From this site - if you don't scroll up, but only scroll down from this link you won't see any pictures of bees. If you should happen to scroll up it's only a sketch of two bees. If you keep scrolling down you will see a list of plants that they prefer. You will want to avoid planting those.
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html#introduction

Most bees love sun and prefer to nest in dry places. For ground nesting bees, this means a patch of undisturbed soil in a sunny spot. For wood- and stem-nesting bees, this means piles of branches, bamboo sections, hollow reeds, or nesting blocks made out of untreated wood. Mason bees need a source of water and mud, and many kinds of bees are attracted to weedy, untended hedgerows.

Flowers that are double tend not to be visited by bees. Plants that are fragrant during the day attract bees. Night fragrant flowers that are doubles won't attract bees during the day. Here's more plants that bees like.
https://tomclothier.hort.net/page42.html

Wasps and bees tend to be inactive or less active when temps are 50*F or lower.

Do keep in mind that bees generally won't attack you unless you pester them. I have worked in the garden pruning plants with bees all around me and they never bother me if I don't bother them. Hope that helps.

Newt