Your bee-friendly plants may be killing bees. According to a report from Friends of the Earth and the Pesticide Research Institute, some of those plants (like sunflowers) that you thought were bee-friendly have been treated–before they reach Lowe’s, Home Depot, and other garden centers–with pesticides that harm bees. The EPA’s new rules ban use of certain pesticides (those that contain imidacloprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) where bees are present. But that doesn’t ensure that those lovely plants have not been infused with the stuff before they hit your store.
For more information, read the NBC Science News article “Bee-killing pesticide found in garden store plants: What does it mean?”
When you shop for plants for your garden, read their labels and ask if the plants have been treated with nerve-killing pesticides that harm and kill bees. If the answer is Yes, or if they don’t know, tell them you’ll shop elsewhere until they can assure you that their plants are not harmful.