The best attraction for bees is aromatic, flowering plants, oftentimes herbs. I grow basil because I use a lot of it. When the flower spikes begin to form, the bees hang around them constantly. A neighbor once gave me a couple of dill plants which I planted. I have no use for dill so I never grew it again, but I do remember never having seen so many bees in my garden before or since that one year. Potted marigolds, set around the garden, will both attract bees and discourage aphids.

I had a small patch of mustard with in bloom with a multitude of tiny blossoms. Bees loved it. The bees visiting the mustard showed no interest in nearby vegetable blossoms however.

Jim

Growing a variety of blooming plants around the garden (especially native plants) and avoiding insecticides are the two best ways to assure pollinators will visit your garden. Where did you get the idea for perfume and lights? The light generated will be very minor in comparison to the sunshine and the perfume might actually be harmful to the bees and plants. I'd like to see some research on these suggestions.

I posted the above message from my observaton of Bee pollinators visiting to the white flowers of the Moringa Olefera every year.Is the white flowers, the nectar or both are the reason for the visit of the pollinator?

Pic. of Pollinator on Moringa Oleifera plant.

{{gwi:110892}}

It happens that the flowers on the basil I mentioned earlier are white, but I doubt that that's the attraction to the bees. I've seen mentioned many times that insects have color vision that is very different from ours. Where we see white they see other colors. When I was working in the garden today I watched with great interest two carpenter bees hovering all over the basil. I'm sure the fragrance draws them in. And yes, they do switch around to the tomato buds, the peppers, etc. It's a smorgasbord out there, and they love it.

This is an area that is still being researched but the link below gives some information on what attracts bees. It's designed for kids but is a wealth of basic info.

Another good article is found here:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/wabees.asp

It's a fascinating subject and one worthy of study. Everybody needs to be more aware of what they can do to prevent harm to bees and to attract them to their gardens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bees

Thanks gardener_sandy for Bees link.I have observed the same Bee that was on Mringa plant roaming on my Chines Wolfberry plant.This is in confirmation according to Pollinator Syndrome Traits Table.The petals of Wolfberry plants are bluish purple and the Bees like to visit the flowers of this color also.These Bees like Yellow and UV also.Does this mean that these Bees are not able to see the other colors?

Chaman, I'll tell you a little true story that might be of interest to you.

Years ago my FIL tended a large garden. He was fond of Sevin and other insecticides and did everything he could to see that the bad bugs didn't eat his vegetables.

When he died in 1993, I took up the garden site and continued in his ways and the ways of my own father who had also loved pesticides. It was the only way I knew then.

After a couple of years I noticed that I was not getting good looking veggies. They often were deformed or not filled out or showed other distressing signs that puzzled me. The garden produced well but something was definitely amiss. After study and questioning of experts, I learned that my garden was not being visited by pollinators and the symptoms I saw were mostly from this lack of nature's helpers.

It didn't take long for this country girl to learn new ways and since about 1995 I haven't used any pesticides with the exception of a one time dose for a serious problem on some azaleas. And now my garden is overrun with bees and other pollinators. I haven't planted especially for them but they're there anyway.

I live in a suburban area but there are many wooded and overgrown grassy areas around us. My best estimation is that the bees were there all along but in reduced numbers. Now that my garden is a safe haven for them, they've come back in search of the nectar and pollen they require.

All this is of course anecdotal so I can't say for scientifically certain that my pesticide free regime is the cause but the evidence is good enough for me. The veggies are much better looking now with very few signs of poor pollination.

I guess my point is this: Don't kill them, have a wide variety of plants that bloom at different times, and they will come.

For more evidence, you might do a search on google using a combination such as bees and pesticides. There's much information out there.