Hmmmm, good question, Gretchen. I'm no expert, but I do love my bees. I'll share my experience with you. At two different times I had something in my garden that the bees decided to build a large nest in. It was in an area of the yard I didn't go to often. When I did find the nests, it scared me. What if they came after me or my pets ? What if they didn't like us mowing the lawn near them ? I found beekeepers both times who were willing to come to my house and take the bees for their hives. There was no way I was going to poison them. Another time I had Mexican Honey Wasps build a large paper nest in a tree near the same area. It was cool! They aren't aggressive at all, so I wasn't worried about them. After a few years, they moved to another location. I know that there must be a hive somewhere close because I have bees that come to water sources in my yard. They don't scare me. I've never been stung. They seem to accept my nearness. Still, after the other experiences, I really don't want to encourage them to build another nest nearby. I wonder how a bee community would live in a small box that the nursery sells... I'm curious. If you are wanting bees in your yard, I'm sure if you plant the right flowers, they will come. Mine are all over the dandelions in the yard right now. The other bug house sounds cool. I don't know where bugs go, but there are plenty of places in my yard, so I don't think of getting them their own place. :-)

I always plant enough flowers for the bees, hummingbirds, dragonflies, butterflies and ladybugs.

A few years back I had to have a beekeeper remove a hive from the street water meter. The guy was great. Took my camera and got close up and took photos for me. I have since put in a scrapbook.

I used to have a couple of honey bee hives, but am reading now about how native bees are important pollinators as well as honey bees. Many people are encouraging them by buying or building bee hotels especially since honey bees are declining. I haven't purchased or built one myself, but I have several old pieces of soft drift wood collected for the purpose of attracting native solitary bees that some black bees, probably Carpenter bees, are swarming around right now and are tunneling into for nests. They are so much fun to watch.

There are several DIY bee houses pictured on the blog Rock Rose with evidence they are being used so that's encouraging. We wish you well!

Very interesting about the solitary bees. Thanks for the thread. I saw the Springhill bee houses and initially figured in our yard they'd end up hosting mud daubers and roaches. May have to give it a try after finding this bee house experience (and instructions) by a UK wildlife gardener living in north central Texas.