By Julie Conner, Somervell County Master Gardener.
Solitary bees are prolific pollinators that are overlooked simply because they are loners. They are also known as carder bees, mason bees or leafcutter bees.
One solitary bee will work as hard as 100 honey bees and will stay closer to a home territory than the honeybee. A hatchling will return to the nest from which it was hatched, making your garden their backyard.
The female bee prefers to make her own nest in a narrow tubular space such as reeds or rock walls. She will lay an egg in the back of the tubular structure then gather pollen and nectar to feed the offspring. This egg is then sealed off and a second chamber begun and so continues building egg chambers to fill the tube.
To attract this pollinator requires building them a habitat. There are multiple ways and sizes of Bee Hotels. A Google search will help you decide which design is right for your garden. These instructions are general. Take a block of wood approximately the size of a birdhouse at least 8 inches square. Drill chambers in the block of wood 6 inches deep and 1/8 to 1/2 inches wide. Be sure to sandpaper the opening smooth as the female is particular. The structure will need a roof which extends out side and front at least an inch. Mount the hotel on a structure or pole at least 4 feet off the ground.
Keep flowering plants in your garden which ‘leapfrog ‘ each other (this means having plants which bloom in every season producing a supply of pollen source).